ACTS 


OF    THE 


ANTI- SLAVERY  APOSTLES. 


BY 


PARKER    PILLSBURY. 
\  \ 


AND    THEY    WENT    EVERYWHERE    PREACHING    THE 

WORD." — Acts,  viii :  4. 


CONCORD,  N.  H. 

1883 


CLAGUE,  WEGMAN,  SCHLICHT,  &  Co. 

Printers, 

ROCHESTER,    N.   Y. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Some  books,  judged  by  their  titles,  are  more  remark 
able  for  what  they  do  not  contain,  than  for  what  they 
do.  This  work  is  only  Acts,  not  the  Acts  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  Apostles.  It  is  only  a  small  portion  of  a  very 
small  part  of  those  apostles. 

There  were  many  in  the  great  west,  as  well  as  not  a 
few  in  the  east,  whose  labors,  sacrifices  and  sufferings 
entitle  them  to  volumes  of  well-written  biography, 
who  can  scarcely  be  mentioned  here,  even  by  name. 

At  this  time  of  my  life  of  nearly  three  score  and 
fourteen  years,  more  than  forty  of  which  have  been 
spent  in  the  field  of  moral,  peaceful  and  religious  agi 
tation  for  the  rights  of  humanity,  it  seemed  presump 
tion  in  me  to  attempt  a  labor  of  even  this  magnitude. 
And  it  was  only  earnest,  continued  importunity  on  the 
part  of  my  very  few  surviving  associates  in  the  con 
flict,  and  their  friends,  that  finally  determined  my 
course.  Truth  only  has  been  sought.  Not  the  whole 
truth  ;  for  that  were  impossible.  But  strict  truth  and 
exact  justice,  to  the  full  extent  of  my  time  and  space. 

The  present  generation  knows  little  of  the  terrible 
mysteries  and  meanings  of  slavery  or  anti-slavery  ; 
the  outrages  and  horrors  of  the  former,  or  the  desper 
ate  and  deadly  encounters  with  the  monster  by  the 
latter,  long  before  the  cannonade  of  Fort  Summer,  or 
the  dreadful  war  chorus  of  the  subsequent  rebellion. 
And  all  which  is  now  attempted  is  some  disclosure  of 
those  mysteries. 

By  anti-slavery  apostles  are  meant  those  only  whose 
work  was  in  the  lecturing  field  ;  who  literally  "  went 
everywhere  preaching  the  word  ;  "  often  as  with  their 

M15785 


IV.  INTRODUCTION. 

lives  in  their  hands.  Nor  will  only  few  of  them,  how 
ever  worthy  and  deserving,  be  mentioned  even  by 
name.  This  work  will  be  rather  pictures  and  sketches 
than  history.  It  will  hardly  enter  more  than  two 
states,  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  ;  never  go 
beyond  New  England.  But  in  New  England  every 
type  and  phase  of  anti-slavery  experience,  doing, 
suffering  and  triumphing  was  represented  to  the 
fullest  possible  extent.  What  was  true  there  was  true 
everywhere  in  the  country.  And  the  truth  on  slavery 
and  anti-slavery  can  be  presented  on  so  small  space, 
and  in  time  equally  limited,  as  well  as  if  the  whole 
country  were  included,  and  all  the  thirty  years  of  the 
moral  and  peaceful,  and  so,  truly  religious,  agitation 
of  the  mighty  problem  were  covered  and  all  the  heroes 
and  martyrs  named.  The  whole,  as  originally  in 
tended,  would  have  comprised  acts  and  experiences 
of  some  of  those  heroes,  with  brief  personal  sketches 
of  them,  together  with  short  biographical  notices  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  of  The  Liberator,  and  Na 
thaniel  Peabody  Rogers,  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom. 

But,  as  the  work  of  writing  went  on,  articles  began 
to  appear  from  our  old  opponents  or  their  children, 
not  only  declaring  that  they  or  their  fathers  abolished 
the  evil,  but  that  it  could  have  been  sooner  and  more 
easily  done,  "  had  Garrison  and  his  small,  but  motley 
following  "  been  out  of  their  way  !  So  some  chapters 
of  acts  of  the  /r^-slavery^apostles,  became  necessary* 
at  cost  of  both  extending  the  volume,  and  also  ex 
cluding  some  worthy  names  and  noble  deeds  that  had 
earned  good  right  to  grace  these  pages.  These  mis 
representations  came  mainly  from  the  clergy,  as  did 
most  of  our  bitterest  opposition  while  prosecuting  our 
anti-slavery  labors,  as  will  be  hereafter  shown  beyond 
all  question  or  contradiction. 


INTRODUCTION.  V. 

So  now  the  order  of  the  book  will  be  :  A  chapter 
on  Mr.  Garrison  ;  a  second,  on  Mr.  Rogers  ;  a  third 
on  slavery — as  it  was  ;  then  one  on  anti-slavery,  what 
it  was  not,  and  what  it  was  ;  and  then  follow  the  acts 
of  the  anti-slavery  apostles  ;  with  acts  of  the  pro-sla 
very  apostles  subjoined  ;  the  latter  generally  telling 
their  own  story  in  their  own  words,  works  and  ways, 
no  cross-questioning  ever  entering  into  their  truly 
judgment-day  assizes,  as  will  be  made  fully  to  appear 
to  a  surrounding  world.  And  it  scarcely  need  be 
added  that  the  abundant  testimony  adduced,  is  only  a 
small  part  of  what  the  churches  and  their  ministers 
have  treasured  up  against  themselves,  to  be  hereafter 
unfolded  from  their  own  archives,  should  occasion  for 
it  ever  arise. 

CONCORD,  N.  H.,  1883.  P.  P. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION, 3 

CHAPTER  I.  • 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,         -  -      9 

CHAPTER   II. 
Nathaniel  Peabody  Rogers,         -         -         -         -         -         -         28 

CHAPTER  III. 
Slavery — As  it  Was, 47 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Anti-Slavery — What  it  Was  Not,  and  What  it  Was,  -         72 

CHAPTER  V. 
Acts  of  the    Anti-Slavery    Apostles,    with    some    Personal 

Sketches  and  Experiences,       -         -  -         -         -     85 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Conventions   and     Meetings    with    Rogers    and     Foster — 

Digression  or  New  Organization,          -  102 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  Continued,   with   Personal  Sketches 

of  Stephen  Symonds  Foster,  123 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles  Continued  —  Letter  of  Concord 
Women — Clerical  Usurpation — More  Revelations  of 
New  Organization — Riotous  Proceedings  at  Dover — 
By  the  Editor  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom,  -  -  156 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Meetings  in  \Vest  Chester — Riotous  and  Shameful  Conduct 
— Ride  to  Derry,  and  what  came  of  it — Franklin  Mob 
Described  in  a  Letter  by  Mr.  Foster,  *  -  -  -  182 


CONTENTS.  VII 

CHAPTER  X. 

Dartmouth  College  —  Riotous  Behavior  of  the  Students — 
Strafford  County  Anniversary — Eastern  Railroad  and 
its  Jim  Crow  Cars — Outrage  on  Colored  Passengers,  -  204 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Discussion  on  Church  Organization  by  Rev.  Mr.  Putnam 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Sargent — Hillsborough  County  Con 
vention  at  Hancock — and  Meeting  at  Nashua,  by  Mr. 
Foster,  and  what  came  of  it,  241 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The     Martyr     Period  —  Imprisonment   'or  Allen,    Brown, 

Beach,  Harriman  and  Foster,     -         -  283 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Conventions  at  Nantucket  and  New  Bedford — Frederick 
Douglass  Discovered  —  Letter  from  Mr.  Garrison — 
Meetings  and  Mob  Demonstrations  in  Salem — Opera 
tions  in  Maine — Mobs  in  Portland  and  Harwich,  -  324 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Some  Acts  of  the  Pro-Slavery  Apostles — Personal  Encounter 
with  the  Hennicker,  N.  H.,  Church  and  Suffolk,  Mass.. 
Association  of  Ministers — Rev.  Dr.  Bacon  and  Son  on 
Slavery  and  Who  Abolished  it — the  Church  and  Clergy 
in  the  Mexican  War,  ,  -  -  -  -  364 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Acts  of  Pro-Slavery  Apostles — General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  —  American  Board  of  Commis 
sioners  for  Foreign  Missions — the  Baptist  Church — 
Methodist-Episcopal  Church — Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  —  Campbellities  —  American  Bible  and  Tract 
Societies — Fugitive  Slave  Law,  -  386 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Some  Personal  Sketches  and  Reminiscences — a  Last  Speech 

in  an  Anti-Slavery  Anniversary  Gathering,  -  479 


ACTS  OF  THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  APOSTLES. 


CHAPTER    I. 

WILLIAM     LLOYD    GARRISON. 

The  Acts  of  the  twelve  apostles  are  not  the  history 
of  Christianity.  Nor  will  the  Acts  of  the  Anti-Slavery 
Apostles  be  a  history  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  in 
the  United  States.  My  own  beginning  in  that  sublime 
enterprise  was  in  the  year  1840,  when,  dating  from  the 
establishment  of  The  Liberator,  in  Boston,  by  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  it  was  about  ten  years  old.  At  that 
time,  so  far  as  can  be  shown,  was  first  announced  the 
doctrine  of  immediate  unconditional  emancipation  to 
every  slave,  without  compensation  to  master  or  expa 
triation  to  the  slave. 

Most  of  my  anti-slavery  work  was  of  the  missionary 
•character,  as  was  that  of  the  first  Christian  apostles, 
who  "went  everywhere  preaching  the  word."  And 
the  purpose  of  this  Scripture  is  to  present  a  true 
record,  as  far  as  practicable,  of  what  passed  under  my 
own  immediate  observation,  and  in  which  it  was  my 
honor  to  bear  some  .humble  part.  My  earliest  asso 
ciates,  editors  as  well  as  lecturers,  are  mostly  now  no 
more,  and  some  personal  account  of  a  part  of  them 
is  also  in  my  present  contemplation.  My  first  anti- 
slavery  newspapers  were  The  Liberator,  The  Eman 
cipator,  published  in  New  York,  organ  and  property 
of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  Herald  of 


10  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

Freedom,  of  Concord.  New  Hampshire.  Through 
some  changes  occurring  in  1840,  The  Emancipator 
passed  out  of  the  society's  hands,  but  was  immedi 
ately  succeeded  by  the  National  Anti- Slavery  Standard, 
which  continued  with  unswerving  integrity  till  slavery 
was  abolished  in  the  country  by  presidential  proclama 
tion,  and  the  male  slave  at  least  was  made  secure  in 
hi;S'rfght;of  suffrage  and  citizenship.  The  first  issue 
of  his  Liberator  by  Mr.  Garrison  was  on  January  i, 
1831.  It  was  a  most  humble,  unpretentious  little  sheet 
of  four  pages,  about  fourteen  inches  by  nine  in 
size,  but  charged  with  the  destiny  of  a  race  of  human 
beings  whose  redemption  from  chattel,  brutal  bondage, 
was  one  day  to  shake  to  its  foundations  the  mightiest 
republic  ever  yet  existing  on  the  globe.  My  first 
introduction  to  Mr.  Garrison  was  in  the  early  spring 
of  1839.  I  had  just  concluded  to  undertake  a  short 
lecturing  and  financial  agency  for  the  Massachu 
setts  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  was  invited  to  a 
meeting  of  its  executive  committee,  to  mature  my 
arrangements.  It  was  an  evening  business  session,  in 
West  street,  Boston,  and  at  the  close  Mr.  Garrison 
invited  me  to  his  home,  then  of  unassuming  preten 
sions,  in  Seaver  Place,  to  pass  the  night.  The  next 
day  was  Saturday,  and  I  went  by  stage  to  Fitchburg, 
about  fifty  miles,  and  on  Sunday  evening  delivered  my 
first  address  on  slavery,  as  agent  of  my  association. 
And  though  I  did  in  the  course  of  that  year,  and  the 
beginning  of  1840,  accept  and  occupy  the  position  of 
a  minister  for  a  very  small  Congregational  church  and 
society  in  an  obscure  New  Hampshire  town,  it  seems 
on  the  whole  more  pertinent,  proper  and  desirable,  to 
date  the  beginning  of  my  life  mission  and  labor  from 
that  anti-slavery  committee  meeting  in  Boston  and 
introduction  to  Mr.  Garrison,  and  first  work  as  an  anti- 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  II 

slavery  agent  in  Fitchburg  and  through  the  county  of 
Worcester  in  the  spring  of  1839. 

Of  the  boyhood  history  of  Mr.  Garrison  this  may 
not  be  the  place  to  speak.  Like  many  men  of  high 
eminence,  he  commenced  life  among  the  lowly.  Nor 
was  his  native  town,  Newburyport,  Massachusetts, 
ever  distinguished  for  any  but  most  conservative  ideas 
in  government,  religion  or  social  policy.  His  excellent 
mother,  a  devout  member  of  the  Baptist  church,  early 
sent  him  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker.  Fortu 
nately  too  early,  for  his  knees  could  not  support  the 
lap-stone,  the  anvil  of  the  shoemaker  of  that  day,  and 
he  was  soon  discharged,  and  entered  as  an  apprentice 
to  a  cabinet  maker.  But  neither  was  this  a  success.  Nor 
did  he  even  approach  nor  tend  to  his  future  high  call 
ing,  until,  while  still  a  youth,  he  entered  a  printing  office. 
That,  as  has  been  truly  said,  was  to  him  high  school, 
college  and  university,  from  which  he  graduated  with 
honors,  after  long  and  faithful  apprenticeship. 

His  first  business  enterprise  was  to  establish  a  little 
newspaper  in  his  native  town,  which  he  characteristic 
ally  named  the  Free  Press.  He  soon  learned,  how 
ever,  that  the  time  for  a  Free  Press  was  not  yet.  But 
the  voice  of  his  genius  still  said,  Cry  !  and  he  re 
sponded  next  in  Boston,  with  the  National  PJiilan- 
thropist,  devoted  doctrinally  and  practically  to  entire 
abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks.  His  motto 
was,  "  Moderate  drinking,  the  down-hill  road  to 
drunkenness."  This  undertaking  was  in  the  year 
1827,  when  he  was  twenty-two  years  old.  But  the 
Philanthropist,  like  the  Free  Press,  proved  a  prema 
ture  birth.  In  1828,  his  powers  of  mind  and  heart 
coming  to  be  better  appreciated,  he  had  and  accepted 
a  proposition  to  go  to  Bennington,  Vermont,  and 
•establish  a  political  paper  to  be  known  as  The  Journal 


12  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

of  the  Times,  and  to  advocate  the  claims  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 
Here,  again,  was  a  failure,  and  this  journal  soon  slept 
with  its  predecessors.  However,  the  valiant,  perse 
vering  young  editor  was  still  full  of  courage  and  hope, 
and  held  on  his  way.  He  soon  made  acquaintance 
with  Benjamin  Lundy,  an  early,  brave  and  true- 
hearted  Quaker  anti-slavery  man,  though  hardly  yet  a 
pronounced  abolitionist.  Of  kindred  spirit,  in  the 
main,  the  two  men  formed  a  partnership  in  the 
autumn  of  1829,  and  together  published  the  Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation . 

But  though  of  one  spirit,  there  was  in  methods 
between  the  two  men  a  difference  wide  as  earth  and 
heaven.  Mr.  Lundy,  in  common  with  the  highest 
humanities  of  the  time,  only  demanded  a  gradual 
removal  of  slavery.  Mr.  Garrison,  instead  of  grad 
ual,  almost  stunned  the  nation  with  the  new  and 
more  excellent  evangel:  "IMMEDIATE  AND  UNCON 
DITIONAL  EMANCIPATION  !" 

Here,  then,  was  a  new  problem  to  be  solved,  or 
reconciled.  An  organized  existence  with  one  heart, 
but  two  voices  :  one  serene,  quiet,  such  as  men  might 
hear  but  not  fear  ;  the  other  the  seven  unloosed 
Apocalyptic  thunders  that  men  should  hear,  and  hear 
ing,  tremble,  as  had  Thomas  Jefferson  already,  even  in 
anticipation,  almost  half  a  century  before  the  terrible 
utterance  was  heard  by  mortal  ear  !  But  Friend 
Lundy's  persuasion  prevailed  for  the  present.  After 
long,  honest  consideration  and  discussion,  he  finally 
said  to  Mr.  Garrison:  "Well,  thee  may  put  thy 
initials  to  thy  editorial  articles  and  I  will  put  my 
initials  to  mine." 

But  the  stern  logic  of  events  soon  showed  that  iron 
and  clay  could  never  be  so  welded  together.  This 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  13 

was  in  Baltimore,  a  slave-breeding,  slave-trading, 
slave-holding  city  ;  indeed,  had  already  become  a 
great  shipping  emporium  of  the  domestic  slave  trade 
of  the  United  States  !  where,  as  has  been  said,  slave 
pens  flaunted  their  signs  in  open  day  on  the  principal 
streets,  their  rich  owners  the  best  city  society  and 
most  devout  worshippers  in  Christian  churches.  The 
wonder  was  that  the  gradualism  of  Lundy  could  be 
tolerated.  And  he  soon  learned  who  had  struck  at 
the  great  tap  root  qf  the  deadly  upas.  Mr.  Garrison 
wrote  :  u  My  demand  for  immediate  emancipation  so 
alarmed  and  excited  the  people  everywhere,  that 
where  Friend  Lundy  would  get  one  new  subscriber  I 
would  knock  off  a  dozen  "  And  so  the  Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation  would  undoubtedly  have  soon 
been  buried  in  the  tomb  of  its  three  predecessors  who 
owed  their  paternity  to  Mr.  Garrison.  But  his  intre 
pidity  and  fidelity  in  denouncing  the  domestic  slave 
trade  and  exposure  of  its  great  cruelty,  in  the  action 
of  a  ship  captain  engaged  in  it  from  his  own  native 
town  of  Newburyport,  led  to  his  arrest  on  a  charge  of 
libel,  and  conviction,  fine,  and  imprisonment  in  a 
Baltimore  jail.  Nor  had  he  one  friend  in  the  city  to 
prevent  it,  if  even  to  deplore  his  fate. 

Released  from  prison,  his  fine  and  court  expenses 
being  paid  by  Mr.  Arthur  Tappan  of  New  York,  and 
his  partnership  with  Friend  Lundy  dissolved  by 
mutual  consent  and  in  most  cordial  spirit,  Mr.  Garri 
son  conceived  the  thought  of  establishing  a  paper  at 
Washington,  where  the  slave  power  and  the  domestic 
slave  trade,  in  all  their  terrors,  had  established  them 
selves  under  the  sheltering  wing  and  by  direct 
authority  of  the  Federal  Government.  Having  in 
August,  1830,  issued  his  prospectus,  he  visited  the 
principal  cities  between  Baltimore  and  Boston  to  test 


14  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

the  tone  of  the  public  feeling  for  such  an  enterprise, 
But  though  he  found  Boston  scarcely  more  friendly  to 
his  doctrines  and  determinations  against  slavery  than 
even  Baltimore  itself,  he  finally  concluded  that  it, 
rather  than  Washington,  was  the  ground  whereon 
The  Liberator  should  be  set  up. 
Writing,  after  his  tour  of  observation,  he  said  : 
During  my  recent  tour  for  the  purpose  of  exciting 
the  minds  of  the  people  by  a  series  of  discourses  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  every  place  I  visited  gave  fresh 
evidence  of  the  fact  that  a  greater  revolution  in  pub 
lic  sentiment  was  to  be  effected  in  the  Free  States,  and 
particularly  in  New  England,  than  at  the  South.  I 
found  contempt  more  bitter,  opposition  more  active, 
detraction  more  relentless,  prejudice  more  stubborn, 
and  apathy  more  frozen  than  among  slave  owners 
themselves.  Of  course  there  were  individual  excep 
tions  to  the  contrary.  This  state  of  things  afflicted 
but  did  not  dishearten  me.  I  determined  at  every 
hazard  to  lift  up  the  standard  of  emancipation  in  the 
eyes  of  the  nation  within  sight  of  Bunker  Hill  and  in 
the  birth-place  of  liberty.  That  standard  is  now 
unfurled,  and  long  may  it  float,  unhurt  by  the  spolia 
tions  of  time  or  the  missiles  of  a  desperate  foe,  till 
every  chain  be  broken  and  every  bondman  set  free  ! 
Let  Southern  oppressors  tremble.  Let  all  the  ene 
mies  of  the  persecuted  blacks  tremble  !  Assenting  to 
the  self-evident  truth  maintained  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  that  "all  men  are  created  equal  and 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable 
rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,"  I  shall  strenuously  contend  for  the 
immediate  enfranchisement  of  our  slave  population. 
In  Park  Street  Church,  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1829,  in 
an  address  on  slavery,  I  unsuspectingly  assented  to 
the  popular  but  pernicious  doctrine  of  gradual  aboli 
tion.  I  seize  this  opportunity  to  make  a  full  and  une 
quivocal  recantation,  and  thus  publicly  to  ask  pardon 
of  my  God,  of  my  country,  and  of  the  poor  slaves, 
for  having  uttered  a  sentiment  so  full  of  timidity, 
injustice  and  absurdity.  A  similar  recantation  from 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  15 

my  pen  was  published  in  the  Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation,  at  Baltimore,  in  September,  1829.  My 
conscience  is  now  satisfied.  I  am  aware  that  many 
object  to  the  severity  of  my  language.  But  is  there 
not  cause  for  severity  ?  I  will  be  as  harsh  as  truth, 
and  as  uncompromising  as  justice.  On  this  subject 
I  do  not  wish  to  think,  or  speak,  or  write  with  moder 
ation.  No  !  No  !  Tell  a  man  whose  house  is  on  fire 
to  give  a  moderate  alarm  ;  tell  him  to  moderately  res 
cue  his  wife  from  the  hands  of  the  ravisher  ;  tell  the 
mother  to  gradually  extricate  her  babe  from  the  fire 
into  which  it  has  fallen  ;  but  urge  me  not  to  use  mod 
eration  in  a  cause  like  the  present  !  I  am  in  earnest 
— I  will  not  equivocate — I  will  not  excuse — I  will  not 
retreat  a  single  inch.  And  I  WILL  BE  HEARD.  The 
apathy  of  the  people  is  enough  to  make  every  statue 
leap  from  its  pedestal,  and  to  hasten  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  !* 

Thus,  at  last,  had  come  the  hour  and  the  man. 
The  great  clock  of  the  eternities  struck  the  hour. 
And  out  of  the  dread  silences  came  the  prophetic 
word  which  was  to  finish  the  work  of  Washington  and 
the  Revolution,  proclaiming  "  LIBERTY  throughout  all 
the  land,  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof."  In  a  Balti 
more  prison  he  had  learned  to  u  remember  them  that 
are  in  bonds,  as  bound  with  them  ;"  and  this  was  his 
self-consecration,  in  the  earnest  strains  of  Thomas 
Pringle  : 

"  Oppression  !  I  have  seen  thee  face  to  face, 
And  met  thy  cruel  eye  and  cloudy  brow  ; 
But  thy  soul-withering-  glance  I  fear  not  now — 
For  dread  to  prouder  feelings  doth  give  place 
Of  deep  abhorrence  !     Scorning  the  disgrace 
Of  slavish  knees  that  at  thy  footstool  bow, 
I  also  kneel ;  but  with  far  other  vow 
Do  hail  thee  and  thy  herd  of  hirelings  base  ; — 
I  swear,  while  life-blood  warms  my  throbbing:  veins, 
Still  to  oppose  and  thwart,  with  heart  and  hand, 
Thy  brutalizing  sway — till  Afric's  chains 
Are  burst,  and  Freedom  rules  the  rescued  land — 
Trampling  Oppression  and  his  iron  rod  : 
Such  is  the  vow  I  take  :  So  HELP  ME  GOD  !" 

*  The  Liberator,  Vol.  i,  No.  i  :  Saturday,  January  i,  1831. 


l6  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

This  was  the  man  in  his  sixth  and  twentieth  yean 
His  work  and  word,  if  not  his  name,  was  The  Libera 
tor.  And  to  the  end  this  was  his  motto  :  "  My  coun 
try  is  the  world  ;  my  countrymen  are  all  mankind." 

Of  the  philosophy  and  method  of  Mr.  Garrison  as 
the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  anti-slavery  move 
ment,  a  few  words  cannot  here  be  out  of  place.  In 
scripture  phrase  it  might  be  sufficient  to  say,  "the 
weapons  of  his  warfare  were  not  carnal."  He  was 
ever  pre-eminently  a  man  of  peace.  At  this  time  he 
was  a  devout  believer  in  the  truest,  best  interpretation 
of  the  New  Testament,  especially  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  and  the  story  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  He 
held  his  mission  to  be  a  completion  of  the  work  begun 
in  the  Revolutionary  War  ;  but  in  magnitude,  sublim 
ity  and  solemnity,  as  well  as  in  probable  results  on  the 
destiny  of  the  world,  as  far  transcending  that,  as 
moral  truth  'and  right  transcend  physical  force.  All 
war,  he  held  to  be  inherently,  intrinsically  wrong. 
And  so  he  early  declared  all  carnal  weapons,  even  for 
deliverance  from  bondage,  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
Christ  as  well  as  of  His  teachings  ;  and  even  coun 
selled  the  slaves  earnestly  against  any  resort  to  them 
in  achieving  their  liberty.  And  the  Constitution  of 
the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  work  of  his  hand, 
contained  such  a  provision. 

In  a  "  Declaration  of  Principles  adopted  by  a  con 
vention  assembled  in  Philadelphia  to  organize  a 
national  anti  -  slavery  association,"  are  words  like 
these  from  the  same  brain,  heart  and  hand  : 

The  right  to  enjoy  liberty  is  inalienable  ;  to  invade 
it  is  to  usurp  the  prerogative  of  Jehovah.  Every  man 
has  a  right  to  his  own  body,  to  the  products  of  his 
labor,  to  the  protection  of  law,  and  to  the  common 
advantages  of  society.  It  is  piracy  by  our  laws  to 
buy  or  steal  a  native  African  and  subject  him  to  servi- 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  IJ 

tilde  :  surely  the  sin  is  as  great  to  enslave  an  American. 
Every  American  citizen  who  detains  a  human  being  in 
involuntary  bondage  is  (according  to  Exodus  21:16,) 
a  man  stealer.  The  slaves  ought  instantly  to  be  set 
free,  and  brought  under  the  protection  of  law. 

After   much    more    in  similar  strain,  follows    this : 

These  are  our  views  and  principles — these  our 
designs  and  measures.  With  entire  confidence  in  the 
over-ruling  justice  of  God,  we  plant  ourselves  upon 
the  Declaration  of  our  Independence  and  the  truths  of 
Divine  Revelation  as  upon  the  Everlasting  Rock.  We 
shall  send  forth  agents  to  "lift  up  everywhere  the  voice- 
of  remonstrance,  of  warning,  of  entreaty  and  of  rebuke. 

We  shall  circulate  unsparingly  and  extensively, 
anti-slavery  tracts  and  periodicals. 

We  shall  enlist  the  pulpit  and  the  press  in  the  cause 
of  the  suffering  and  the  dumb. 

We  shall  aim  at  a  purification  of  the  churches  from 
all  participation  in  the  guilt  of  slavery. 

We  shall  spare  no  exertions  nor  means  to  bring  the 
whole  nation  to  speedy  repentance. 

Our  trust  for  victory  is  solely  in  God.  We  may  be 
personally  defeated,  but  our  principles,  never  !  Truth, 
jnstice,  reason,  humanity,  must  and  will  gloriously 
triumph  ! 

In  youth,  Garrison  had  been  a  pronounced  politi 
cian  of  the  conservative  party,  as  were  most  of  the 
leading  men  of  his  native  town.  It  _was_,the  sound  of 
the  Greek  revolution  against  Turkish  despotism  which 
first  filled  his  ear,  and  fired  his  young  soul  with  the 
spirit  of  freedom.  The  powerful  appeals  of  Daniel 
Webster  and  Henry  Clay  in  the  American  Senate  fed 
the  flame.  Webster  became  to  him  the  divinity  of 
the  forum.  He  even  contemplated  at  one  time  a 
brief  term  at  the  WTest  Point  military  school  that  he 
might  take  the  field  in  person  in  the  cause  of  the 
struggling  Greeks.  John  Randolph  had  not  yet  told 
him  and  Webster  and  Clay  that  "the  Greeks  were  at 
their  own  doors." 


l8  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

But  as  Mr.  Garrison  increased  in  wisdom  and 
spiritual  stature,  and  it  became  evident  that  he  was  to 
be  the  divinely  constituted  leader  in  the  sublimest 
movement  in  behalf  of  liberty  and  humanity  of  many 
generations,  his  vision  was  so  anointed  that  he  saw 
clearly  that,  though  he  was  indeed  to  wrestle  with 
principalities  and  powers,  and  with  spiritual  wicked 
ness  in  high  places  also,  his  weapons  were  to  be  drawn 
from  no  earthly  magazines.  The  sword  of  the  spirit 
of  Truth  only,  was  to  be  made  mighty  in  his  hands,  to 
an  extent  such  as  had  not  been  beheld  before,  from  the 
day  when  an  apostate  Christianity  in  the  person  of 
Constantine  the  Great,  mounted  the  throne  of  the 
Cresars  and  most  ingloriously  proclaimed  herself 
mistress  of  the  world  ! 

When  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  was  formed 
in  Philadelphia,  in  1833,  Garrison  was  a  New  Testa 
ment  Christian,  as  he  understood  the  word,  in  all  the 
word  can  rightly  be  made  to  mean.  And  most  of  all, 
did  he  reverence  the  doctrines  of  freedom  and  peace. 
Peace  on  earth,  liberty  and  good- will  to  men,  to  all 
men,  and  all  women,  were  then  his  proclamation  and 
song.  Human  life  he  came  to  regard  as  sacred  above 
all  other  things.  And  so  capital  punishment  and 
war,  as  well  as  slavery,  were  to  him  an  abhorrence. 
Hence,  logically,  he  renounced  all  allegiance  to  human 
governments  founded  in  military  force,  and  openly 
proclaimed  himself  disciple  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  in 
these  memorable  words  : 

O  Jesus !  noblest  of  patriots,  greatest  of  heroes, 
most  glorious  of  martyrs !  Thine  is  the  spirit  of 
universal  liberty  and  love,  of  uncompromising  hostility 
to  every  form  of  injustice  and  wrong.  But  not  with 
weapons  of  death  dost  thou  assail  thy  enemies,  that 
they  may  be  vanquished  or  destroyed.  For  thou  dost 
not  wrestle  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against  prin- 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  19 

cipalities  and  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the  dark 
ness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places.  Therefore  hast  thou  put  on  the  whole 
armor  of  God  ;  having  thy  loins  girt  about  with  truth, 
and  having  on  the  breast-plate  of  righteousness,  and 
thy  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of 
peace  ;  going  for\h  to  battle  with  the  shield  of  faith, 
the  helmet  of  salvation,  the  sword  of  the  spirit  ! 
Worthy  of  all  imitation  art  thou,  in  overcoming  the 
evil  that  is  in  the  world.  For,  by  the  shedding  of  thy 
own  blood,  but  not  the  blood  of  thy  bitterest  foes 
even,  shalt  thou  at  last  obtain  a  universal  victory. 

The  Christian's  victory  alone 

Hostility  forever  ends ; 
Erects  an  undisputed  throne 

And  turns  his  foes  to  friends. 

Ye  great,  ye  mighty  of  the  earth  ! 

Ye  conquerers,  learn  this  secret  true  ! 
A  secret  of  celestial  birth — 

By  suffering  to  subdue! 

— LETTER  TO  KOSSUTH. 

The  New  England  Non-Resistance  Society  was 
organized  in  1838,  and  Mr.  Garrison  was  elected  cor 
responding  secretary  and  member  of  the  executive 
committee  ;  and  many  of  its  first  official  papers  and 
records,  besides  breathing  his  spirit,  bear  unmistak 
able  imprint  of  his  brain  and  hand.  A  portion  of  the 
preamble  to  its  constitution  reads  thus  : 

Whereas,  The  penal  code  of  the  first  covenant 
has  been  abrogated  by  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  whereas 
our  Savior  has  left  man  example  that  we  should  fol 
low  his  steps  in  forbearance,  submission  to  injury  and 
non-resistance,  even  when  life  itself  is  at  stake  ;  and 
whereas  the  weapons  of  a  true  Christian  are  not  car 
nal  but  spiritual,  and  therefore  mighty  through  God 
to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds  ;  and  whereas  we 
profess  to  belong  to  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world, 
which  is  without  local  or  geographical  boundaries,  in 
which  there  is  no  division  of  caste,  nor  inequality  of 
sex  ;  therefore,  we,  the  undersigned,  etc.,  etc. 


20  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

A  part  of  Article  II  of  the  constitution  reads  : 
The  members  of  this  society  agree  in  the  opinion 
that  no  man  nor  body  of  men,  however  constituted 
or  by  whatever  name  called,  have  right  to  take  the 
life  of  man  as  penalty  for  transgression  ;  that  no  one 
who  professes  to  have  the  spirit  of  Christ  can  consist 
ently  sue  a  man  at  law  for  redress  of  injuries,  of 
thrust  any  evil-doer  into  prison  ;  or  hold  any  office  in 
which  he  would  come  under  obligation  to  execute  any 
penal  enactments,  or  take  any  part  in  the  military 
service  ;  or  acknowledge  allegiance  to  any  human 
government.  *  *  * 

At  this  time  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  belief  of 
Mr.  Garrison  in  both  the  inspiration  and  authority  of 
the  Bible,  the  Trinity  and  Atonement,  but  especially 
in  all  the  teachings  and  precepts  of  Christ,  was 
almost  precisely  such  as  was  then,  and  still  is  pro 
fessed,  by  the  whole  Evangelical  church.  Among  his- 
many  devout  poetical  effusions  this  will  be  found  : 

SONNET    TO    THE    BIBLE. 

O  Book  of  books  !     Though  skepticism  flout 

Thy  sacred  origin,  thy  worth  decry  ; 

Though  tranceadental  folly  give  the  lie 

To  what  thou  teachest :  though  the  critic  doubt 

This  fact  ;  that  miracle  ;  and  raise  a  shout 

Of  triumph  o'er  each  incongruity 

He  in  thy  pages  may  perchance  espy  ; 

As  in  his  strength,  the  effulgent  sun  shines  out, 

Hiding  innumerous  stars,  so  dost  thou  shine, 

With  heavenly  light  all  human  works  excelling. 

Thy  oracles  are  holy  and  divine, 

Of  free  salvation  through  a  Savior  telling. 

All  truth,  all  excellence  dost  thou  enshrine  ; 

The  mists  of  sin  and  ignorance  expelling. 

Such  was  Mr.  Garrison  as  a  Christian,  as  a  follower 
of  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament.  And  won- 
drously  consistent  with  his  faith  were  his  spirit,  his 
life,  and  his  whole  character. 

At  home  or  abroad  ;  in  private  or  in  public  ;  as 
writer  or  as  speaker ;  as  husband,  father,  friend,. 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  21 

neighbor,  or  in  whatever  relation  ;  after  long,  wide, 
and  intimate  acquaintance  with  men  in  pulpit,  church, 
politics,  and  the  world  at  large  ;  for  the  constant 
exercise  of  what  we  call  the  Christian  virtues  and 
graces,  I  surely  have  seen  few  the  peer,  none  the 
luperior  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

And  yet  he  was  called  an  infidel  by  almost  all  the 
universal  church  of  the  nation,  from  the  university 
and  theological  seminary  down  to  the  humblest  village 
pastors,  churches,  and  Sunday-schools.  With  a  life 
pure  and  spotless  as  the  white  plumage  of  angels,  his 
whole  character  and  conduct  unsullied  by  the  slight 
est  breath  of  reproach,  blessing  many  temporally  and 
spiritually  with  whom  he  had  intercourse,  gentle  and 
patient  with  ignorance,  forbearing  and  long-suffering 
with  prejudice  and  perverseness,  and  yet  bold  and 
brave,  unconcealing  and  uncompromising  where  op 
pression  and  iniquity,  injustice  and  cruelty  were  to  be 
exposed  and  rebuked,  no  matter  in  what  high  places 
entrenched — yet  was  he  branded,  blasted  as  infidel, 
even  atheist,  when  those  words  were  made  to  stand 
for,  were  presumed  to  stand  for  all  that  is  to  be 
dreaded,  shunned,  execrated  and  exterminated  at 
whatever  cost  ! 

Revering  the  New  Testament  as  law  divine,  he 
studied  and  respected  its  teachings.  Did  he  read 
"  Resist  Not  Evil  ?"  He  observed  the  sacred  require 
ment,  preached  it  in  his  journal,  The  Liberator,  and 
practiced  it  everywhere.  Hence  arose  the  Non-Re 
sistance  Society,  as  well  as  a  great  national  anti- 
slavery  movement,  which,  without  proscription,  rested 
substantially  and  was  largely  sustained  on  a  similar 
foundation. 

With  him  "  love  your  enemies  "  never  meant  shoot 
them  in  war,  nor  hang  nor  imprison  them  in  peace. 


22  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

And  so  The  Liberator,  which  was  his  own  property 
from  first  to  last,  was  not  only  a  proclamation  of 
peace,  liberty  and  love  on  earth,  but  of  general,  uni 
versal  unfolding,  progressing  and  perfecting  to  all 
man  and  womankind. 

But,  joining  himself  to  no  religious  sect  nor  party, 
chained  down  to  no  narrow,  dogmatic  ringbolt,  he 
had  ever  eye  and  ear,  as  well  as  heart  and  hospitality, 
for  whatever  new  truth  might  appear — in  whatever 
book,  science  or  religion  it  might  be  found.  And 
what  wonder  if  years  of  violent  opposition  and  per 
secution  from  almost  the  whole  American  church  and 
clergy  on  account  of  his  fidelity  to  the  Christian  doc 
trines  of  peace,  purity  and  liberty  as  they  were  taught 
in  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  and  the  unswerving 
example  of  its  great  Author,  should  have  clarified  and 
quickened  his  vision  mentally  and  spiritually  !  At 
any  rate,  he  subsequently  re-examined  the  faiths  and 
formulas  of  the  professedly  evangelical  sects  in  reli 
gion,  including  their  avowed  belief  in  plenary  inspira 
tion  of  Holy  Scripture. 

As  one  result  of  his  farther  investigations,  he 
attended  a  convention  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in 
1853,  called  especially  to  consider  the  claim  and  char 
acter  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures.  The 
meeting  was  very  large,  having  representatives,  men 
and  women,  from  east  and  west,  continuing  four  days, 
with  three  long  sessions  each.  In  one  of  them  Mr. 
Garrison  offered  and  ably  defended  a  series  of  reso 
lutions,  the  first  of  which  was  to  this  purport  : 

Resolved,  That  the  doctrines  of  the  American 
church  and  priesthood,  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of 
God  ;  that  whatever  it  contains  was  given  by  divine 
inspiration,  and  that  it  is  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  is  self-evidently  absurd  ;  is  exceedingly  inju 
rious  both  to  the  intellect  and  the  soul ;  is  highly  per- 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  23 

nicious  in  its  application,  and  a  stumbling  block  in 
the  way  of  human  redemption. 

And  yet,  to  the  end  of  life,  no  man  more  venerated 
or  made  wiser  use  of  the  Bible  than  did  Mr.  Garrison. 
A  late  testimonial  of  his  reads  thus  : 

I  have  lost  my  traditional  and  educational  notions 
of  the  holiness  of  the  Bible,  but  I  have  gained  greatly, 
I  think,  in  my  estimation  of  it.  *  *  *  I  am  fully 
aware  how  grievously  the  priesthood  have  perverted 
it  and  wielded  it  as  an  instrument  of  spiritual  despot 
ism  and  in  opposition  to  the  sacred  cause  of  human 
ity  ;  still  to  no  other  volume  do  I  turn  with  so  much 
interest  ;  no  other  do  I  consult  or  turn  to  so  fre 
quently  ;  to  no  other  am  I  so  indebted  for  light  and 
strength  ;  no  other  is  so  identified  with  the  growth  of 
human  freedom  and  progress.  To  no  other  have  I 
appealed  so  effectively  in  aid  of  the  various  reforma 
tory  movements  which  I  have  espoused.  And  it 
embodies  an  amount  of  excellence  so  great  as  to 
make  it,  in  my  estimation,  THE  BOOK  OF  BOOKS. 

Garrison  early  learned  to  doubt  nothing  only 
because  it  was  new,  and  he  accepted  nothing  unless 
he  saw  on  it  more  than  the  mold  and  moss  of  age  and 
time.  He  found  the  world,  even  its  most  enlightened 
people,  dead  in  the  trespasses  and  sins  of  intemper 
ance,  slavery,  war,  capital  punishment,  and  woman's 
enslavement.  He  lived  to  set  on  foot,  or  largely  and 
liberally  co-operate  in  enterprises  and  instrumentali 
ties  for  correcting  all  these  abuses,  for  righting  all 
these  fearful  wrongs. 

But  at  last  there  came  another  stranger  to  his  door. 
With  characteristic  hospitality  that  door  was  again 
opened.  Francis  Jackson,  one  of  the  noblest,  bravest, 
most  steadfast  supporters  of  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  life 
work,  once  said  with  respect  to  sheltering  and  protect 
ing  the  fugitive  slave  :  "When  I  unfeelingly  shut  my 
door  against  a  hunted,  fleeing  slave,  may  the  God  of 
compassion  close  the  door  of  his  mercy  against  me  !" 


24  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

So  no  slave,  nor  even  stranger,  ever  appealed  in 
vain  to  Garrison.  The  new  guest  was  Spiritualism. 
That  was  a  "  sect  everywhere  spoken  against "  as  fast 
as  it  grew  in  numbers — as  anti-slavery  had  been  in  the 
generation  preceding  it.  Even  many  of  the  best 
abolitionists,  men  and  women  who  had  bravely  suf 
fered  persecution  for  and  with  the  slave,  treated  it 
with  contempt  and  scorn.  Not  so,  never  so,  with  Mr. 
Garrison.  Many  of  his  truest  friends,  some  of  them 
Quakers,  as  well  as  of  other  religious  denominations, 
became  early  and  devoted  spiritualists,  and  that  alone 
would  have  forever  prevented  him  from  dismissing, 
still  less  condemning,  any  stranger  or  defendant 
uncondemned,  or  even  unheard. 

And  in  finally  giving  the  new  and  mysterious  idea 
recognition,  he  found,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life 
believed,  that  he  had  literally  entertained  angels,  and 
angels  not  unawares. 

Nor  did  he  hesitate  to  make  proclamation  of  the 
new  and  sublime  Evangel.  In  The  Liberator  of 
March  3d,  1854,  is  an  article  from  his  pen,  of  which 
the  following  are  but  the  opening  paragraphs,  giving 
a  detailed  account  of  a  highly  demonstrative  seance 
he  had  just  attended  in  New  York,  where  writing, 
rapping,  drumming,  "  drumming  in  admirable  time 
and  most  spiritual  manner,"  and  other  wondrous  phe 
nomena  were  witnessed.  He  wrote  : 

We  are  often  privately  asked  what  we  think  of  the 
"  spiritual  manifestations,"  so  called,  and  whether  we 
have  had  any  opportunities  to  investigate  them. 

When  we  first  heard  of  the  "  Rochester  knock- 
ings"  we  supposed  (not  personally  knowing  the  per 
sons  implicated)  that  there  might  be  some  collusion  in 
that  particular  case,  or  if  not,  that  the  phenomena 
would,  ere  long,  elicit  a  satisfactory  solution,  indepen 
dent  of  any  spiritual  agency.  As  the  manifestations 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  25 

have  spread  from  house  to  house,  from  city  to  city, 
from  one  part  of  the  country  to  the  other,  across  the 
Atlantic  into  Europe,  till  now  the  civilized  world  is 
compelled  to  acknowledge  their  reality,  however 
diverse  in  accounting  for  them;  as  these  manifestations- 
continue  to  increase  in  variety  and  power,  so  that  all 
suspicion  of  trick  or  imposture  becomes  simply  absurd 
and  preposterous  ;  and  as  every  attempt  to  find  a 
solution  for  them  in  some  physical  theory  relating  to- 
electricity,  the  odic  force,  clairvoyance,  and  the  like,, 
has  thus  far  proved  abortive — it  becomes  every  intelli 
gent  mind  to  enter  into  an  investigation  of  them  with 
candor  and  fairness,  as  opportunity  may  offer,  and  to 
bear  such  testimony  in  regard  to  them  as  the  facts 
may  warrant ;  no  matter  what  ridicule  it  may  excite 
on  the  part  of  the  uninformed  or  sceptical. 

As  for  ourselves,  most  assuredly  we  have  been  in  no 
haste  to  jump  to  a  conclusion  ih  regard  to  phenomena 
so  universally  diffused,  and  of  so  extraordinary  a 
character.  For  the  last  three  years,  we  have  kept 
pace  with  nearly  all  that  has  been  published  on  the 
subject  ;  and  we  have  witnessed,  at  various  times, 
many  surprising  "manifestations;"  and  our  con 
viction  is  that  they  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  any 
other  theory  than  that  of  spiritual  agency.  This 
theory,  however  is  not  unattended  with  discrepancies, 
difficulties,  and  trials.  It  is  certain  that,  if  it  be  true, 
there  are  many  deceptive  spirits,  and  that  the  apostolic 
injunction  to  "believe  not  every  spirit,"  but  to  try 
them  in  every  possible  way,  is  specially  to  be  regarded, 
or  the  consequences  may  prove  very  disastrous.  We 
might  write  a  long  essay  on  what  we  have  seen  and 
heard  touching  the  matter,  but  this  we  reserve  for 
some  other  occasion. 

At  the  burial  of  his  friend  Henry  C.  Wright,  who 
died  on  the  i6th  of  August,  1870,  he  made  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  and  impressive  addresses  of  his 
whole  life.  Mr.  Wright  had  been  for  several  years  a 
pronounced  and  active  spiritualist,  and  this  is  the 


26  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

tribute,  or  a  portion  of  it,  which  Mr.  Garrison  paid  to 
that  part  of  his  life  work  : 

I  see  it  reproachfully  stated  in  one  newspaper  at 
least,  that  he  was  a  spiritualist.  What  if  he  was  ? 
That  is  simply  a  question  of  evidence.  What  has 
been  possible  in  any  age  of  the  world  as  to  spiritual 
phenomena,  is  possible  in  ours.  And  if  we  cannot 
believe  what  transpires  in  our  days,  before  our  own 
eyes,  we  certainly  do  not  and  cannot  believe  what  is 
merely  reported  to  have  taken  place  ages  ago.  WThat 
shall  be  said  of  the  intelligence  or  sincerity  of  those 
who  say  they  implicitly  accept  all  the  marvels  and 
miracles  recorded  as  having  taken  place  thousands  of 
years  ago,  with  not  a  living  witness  to  attest  to  any 
one  of  them  ;  while  they  scout  as  arrant  imposture 
perfectly  analogous  wonders  and  revelations,  though 
these  are  confirmed  by  multitudes  of  living  witnesses 
whose  faithfulness  cannot  be  questioned,  and  whose 
critical  judgment  and  profound  caution  refute  every 
imputation  of  folly  or  ignorance. 

When  spiritualism  was  on  trial  at  the  bar  of  the 
judgment  of  this  world,  some  of  Mr.  Garrison's  friends 
saw  with  deep  regret  his  hospitality  and  charity 
towards  it.  There  were  those  who  even  denied  posi 
tively  that  he  was,  or  was  in  any  danger  of  becoming, 
a  spiritualist.  So  doutbtless  his  early  political  and 
religious  associates  felt  and  reasoned,  when  they  saw 
his  heart  warmed,  and  his  hand  and  voice  were  lifted 
in  behalf  of  the  imbruted  slave  and  his  few  devoted, 
but  despised  and  persecuted  friends.  With  his  shin 
ing  talents  and  deep  devotion  to  his  then  sincerely 
cherished  political  and  religious  principles,  both  of 
respectable  and  popular  character,  how  could  he  ever 
become  an  Abolitionist  ? 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON.  27 

But  there's   a   Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends  ;    and 
Garrison  was  a  young  man  when  he  wrote  : 

44  I  am  an  Abolitionist, 

Oppression's  deadly  foe  ; 
In  God's  great  name  will  I  resist 

And  lay  the  monster  low. 
In  God's  great  name  do  I  demand 

To  all  be  Freedom  given, 
That  peace  and  joy  may  fill  the  earth 

And  songs  go  up  to  heaven." 

And  spiritualism  he  yoked  to  his  chariot  of  salvation 
so  soon  as  he  espoused  it  in  its  fullness  and  conscious 
truth,  as  had  already  his  friend  Henry  C.  Wright,  a 
few  years  before,  and  doubtless  in  the  full  faith  and 
hope  of  Lord  Brougham,  when  he  wrote  :  "Even  in 
the  most  cloudless  skies  of  Skepticism,  I  see  a  rain-cloud, 
if  it  be  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand,  and  its  name  is 
Spiritualism," 


CHAPTER      II. 

NATHANIEL    PEABODY     ROGERS 

When  some  discerning  Romans  saw  how  many 
statues  were  reared  in  their  city  to  persons  of  only 
indifferent  merit,  while  Cato,  one  of  their  wisest  and 
best,  had  none,  they  wondered.  But  the  great  man 
had  answered  the  question  beforehand  :  "  Better  that 
posterity  should  ask  why  Cato  has  not  a  monument, 
than  why  he  has." 

In  the  cemeteries  of  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  are 
many  memorial  stones.  Some  of  great  beauty  and 
cost,  with  proportionally  elaborate  and,  perhaps,  appro 
priate  inscriptions.  But  situated  among  them  is  one 
lot  of  the  ordinary  family  size,  protected  by  no  iron 
railing,  no  granite  embankment,  and  whose  dead  level 
surface  would  seem  never  to  have  been  invaded  for 
burial,  agricultural  or  any  other  human  purpose. 

And  yet  to  that  hallowed  spot  I  have  conducted 
many  devout  pilgrims  from  east  and  west,  both  women 
and  men.  For  there,  since  Sunday,  the  i8th  day  of 
October,  1846,  exactly  thirty-six  years  ago  this  very 
day,  and  almost  hour,  have  slumbered  the  mortal 
remains  of  Nathaniel  Peabody  Rogers,  surely  one  of 
the  brightest,  noblest,  truest  and  every  way  most  gifted 
sons,  not  only  of  the  Granite  state,  but  of  any  state 
of  this  union  of  states,  departing  at  the  early  age  of 
only  fifty-two  years. 

And  no  visitor  from  near  or  remote,  ever  fails  to 
ask,  sometimes  with  almost  stunning  emphasis  : 
"  Why  has  Rogers  no  monument  ?" 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  29 

Should  that  sacred  spot  speak  out  from  its  silence 
of  six  and  thirty  years,  doubtless  its  answer  to  the 
eminently  pertinent  inquiry  would  be,  as  \vas  that  of 
Cato,  so  well  remembered,  so  much  admired,  so  often 
repeated  now,  after  more  than  two  thousand  years. 

Such  as  was  Rogers,  never  die.  They  need  no 
monuments  reared  by  other  hands  than  their  own. 
Time  mows  down  all  marble  and  granite,  tramples  out 
all  inscriptions  in  bronze  or  brass.  And.  so  such  reg 
isters  are  soon  lost  for  evermore.  It  has  been  said  of 
the  immortal  Senator  Sumner  and  his  humble  tomb 
stone  at  Mount  Auburn,  and  lowly  indeed  it  is  : 

"  The  grass  may  grow  o'er  the  lowly  bed 
Where  the  noblest  Roman  hath  laid  his  head  ; 
But  mind  and  thought,  a  nation's  mind 
Embalm  the  lover  of  mankind." 

And  scarcely  of  any  man  departed  or  still  visible  to 
mortal  sight,  could  this  be  sung  more  appropriately 
than  of  the  subject  of  this  chapter  ;  and  for  some 
seven  years  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom,  published 
in  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  ten  or  twelve  years. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  born  at  Plymouth,  on  the  3d  of 
June,  1794,  and  was  one  of  the  tenth  generation  from 
him  who  is  so  well,  widely  and  honorably  known  as 
"  Rev.  John  Rogers,"  the  first  in  that  blessed  com 
pany  of  martyrs  who  suffered  in  the  reign  of  the 
bigoted  and  bloody  Mary,  in  the  year  1555.  And 
surely  the  blood  of  the  martyr,  literally  and  spiritually, 
flowed  in  the  veins  of  his  remote  descendant,  answer 
ing  "heart  to  heart,"  as  well  as  "  face  to  face."  For 
those  who  have  been  privileged  to  see  both  our 
departed  editor  in  the  flesh  and  form,  and  a  singularly 
well  preserved  portrait  of  the  martyr  in  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society  hall  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts, 
have  wondered  at  the  remarkable  resemblance  in  the 


30  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

shape  of  head  and  face,  in  complexion,  color  of  eye 
and  hair,  and  the  whole  general  expression  of  the  two 
memorable  men.  He  graduated  with  honors  at  Dart 
mouth  college,  in  the  year  1816.  He  studied  law  with 
the  distinguished  Richard  Fletcher,  and  then  settled 
down  to  its  practice  in  his  native  town,  marrying  a 
daughter  of  Hon.  Daniel  Farrand,  of  Burlington,  Ver 
mont.  He  conducted  a  flourishing  and  successful  law 
practice  in  Plymouth  for  about  twenty  years  before 
moving  to  Concord  to  take  charge  of  the  Herald  of 
Freedom. 

As  student  in  general  literature,  especially  in  his 
tory  and  poetry,  none  of  his  day  were  before  him. 
Few  ever  heard  Shakespeare,  Scott,  Byron  and  Burns 
read  more  beautifully,  more  thrillingly,  than  at  his 
fireside,  surrounded  by  his  estimable  wife  and  seven 
children,  with  sometimes  a  few  invited  friends.  But 
general  reading  and  home  delights  never  detracted 
from  the  duties  of  his  profession.  When  he  died,  an 
intimate  friend,  who  had  known  him  long  and  well, 
wrote  that  so  accurate  was  his  knowledge  of  law,  and 
so  industrious  was  he  in  business,  that  the  success  of 
a  client  was  always  confidently  expected  from  the 
moment  his  assistance  was  secured.  His  life  mission, 
however,  was  neither  literature  nor  law.  He  was  in 
due  time  ordained,  consecrated  as  a  high  priest  in 
the  great  fellowship  of  humanity,  and  wondrously, 
divinely  did  he  magnify  his  office  in  the  ten  or  twelve 
last  years  of  his  earthly  life. 

In  the  year  1835,  he  made  acquaintance  with 
Garrison,  and  soon  placed  himself  at  his  side  as  the 
hated,  hunted,  persecuted  champion  of  the  American 
slave,  as  b>  this  time  Garrison  was  known  to  be.  And 
from  that  time,  too,  Rogers  was  ever  found  the  firm, 
unshaken,  uncompromising  friend  and  advocate  of  not 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  31 

only  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  but  of  the  causes  of 
temperance,  peace,  rights  of  woman,  abolition  of  the 
gallows  and  halter,  and  other  social  and  moral  reforms. 

Here  may  be  the  place  to  say  what  certainly  should 
be  said  at  some  time  and  place,  a  few  words  on  the 
early  religious  character  of  Mr.  Rogers.  For  it  is 
neither  known  to  this  generation  nor  presumed  what 
manner  of  men  and  women  were  most  of  those  who 
early  espoused  the  cause  of  the  American  slave  ;  espe 
cially  in  their  relations  to  the  popular  and  prevailing 
religion  of  their  time.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  were 
active  and  honored  members  in  the  Congregational 
church  at  Plymouth,  when  they  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  slave.  And  they  naturally  looked,  as  did  other 
anti-slavery  Christians,  to  the  church  and  pulpit  as 
the  divinely  appointed  instrumentality  for  emancipat 
ing  the  bondmen,  especially  of  their  own  country, 
enslaved,  too,  by  laws  of  their  own  enactment  and 
religious  sanction  and  approval. 

Perhaps  a  few  excerpts  from  an  early  editorial  in  the 
Herald  of  Freedom  will  illustrate  the  quality  of  the 
religious  sentiment  and  opinion  of  the  editor,  as  well 
as  the  tone  and  temper  of  his  heart  and  spirit.  The 
whole  article  is  in  the  Herald  of  August  n,  1838,  and 
is  a  review  of  a  contribution  to  the  Christian  Exam 
iner,  entitled  "  The  Presence  of  God."  The  Examiner 
was  a  Unitarian  journal,  the  sect  at  that  time  quite 
alien  to  the  more  evangelical  views  of  Mr.  Rogers  : 

We  wander  a  moment  from  our  technical  anti- 
slavery  sphere,  to  say,  with  permission  of  our  readers, 
a  word  or  two  on  a  beautiful  article  in  the  Christian 
Examiner.  It  is  from  the  pen  of  one  of  our  gifted 
fellow  citizens,  to  whom  the  unhappy  subjects  of 
insanity  in  this  state  owe  so  much  fo.  ..the  public 
charity  now  contemplated  in  their  behalf.  It  is  writ 
ten  with  great  eloquence,  perspicuity  and  force  of 


32    .  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

style  ;  and  what  is  more,  it  seems  scarcely  to  want 
that  spirit  of  heart-broken  Christianity  so  apt  to  be 
missing  in  the  peaceful  speculation  of  reviews,  and 
may  we  not  say  in  the  speculations  of  the  elegant 
corps  among  whom  the  writer  of  the  article  is  here 
found.  We  will  find  briefly  what  fault  we  can  with 
the  article.  Its  beauties  need  not  be  pointed  out. 
They  lie  scattered  profusely  over  its  face.  It  is  an 
article  on  "  The  Presence  of  God/'  and  treats  of  our 
relations  to  Him.  But  does  it  set  forth  that  relation 
as  involving  our  need  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
order  that  we  may  be  able  to  stand  in  it  ?  For  our 
selves  we  cannot  contemplate  God,  and  dare  not  look 
towards  Him  unconnected  with  Christ.  Our  writer 
seems  boldly  to  look  upon  Him  as  the  strong-eyed 
eagle  gazes  into  the  sun.  God  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to 
behold  iniquity.  He  cannot  look  upon  sin  but  with 
abhorrence.  We  have  sinned  ;  therefore  we  fear  to 
behold  him!  In  Christ  alone  is  He  our  Father  in 
heaven,  and  we  His  reconciled  children.  In  Christ  we 
dare  take  hold  of  His  hand,  and  of  the  skirts  of  His 
almighty  garments.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified  is  the  medium  through  whom  alone  we  dare 
look  upon  God,  in  His  works,  His  providence,  or  His 
grace.  Sinless  man  might,  without  this  medium. 
Fallen  man  may  not.  *  *  *  The  writer  con 
templated  God  in  His  works — but  he  seems,  though 
awed,  elevated  and  delighted  at  their  grandeur,  beauty 
and  wisdom,  to  feel  still  baffled  of  the  great  end  in  their 
contemplation.  Does  he  not,  we  would  ask  him,  feel 
the  absence  of  some  link  in  the  chain  of  communica 
tion  with  this  ineffable  being,  which  might,  if  not  inter 
rupted,  anchor  his  soul  securely  within  the  veil,  which 
after  all  continues  to  shroud  him  from  communion  and 
sight  ?  Can  he,  in  sight  of  the  works  of  God,  speak 
out  and  sing  in  the  strains  of  the  Singer  of  Israel  ? 
The  writer  speaks  of  the  communion  of 
God  with  our  minds.  This  he  seems  to  regard  with 
chief  interest.  He  speaks  of  "  the  need  of  having 
attention,"  meaning  intellectual  attention,  "  waked  up 
to  these  old  truths."  "  Listlessness  of  mind,"  he  con 
tinues,  "  an  inveterate  habit  of  inattention  to  the  exis- 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  33 

tence  of  the  Eternal  Spirit,  needs  to  be  broken  in 
upon.  We  need  to  help  each  other  to  escape  a  fatuity 
of  mind  on  this  subject  that  we  may  feel  that  God's 
ark  still  rides  o'er  the  world's  waves,  and  that  the 
burning  bush  has  not  gone  out."  There  is  an  "inat 
tention,"  it  is  true,  but  it  is  of  the  heart,  not  merely  of 
the  mind,  of  the  nature  and  not  of  "habit"  merely  ;  a 
spiritual  inattention,  or  rather  alienation  from  God, 
which  must  be  broken  in  upon.  It  is  not  the  creature 
of  habit.  Adam  felt  it  in  all  its  force  on  the  very  day 
of  his  first  transgression.  He  heard  the  voice  of  God, 
which,  in  his  innocency,  he  had  hailed  with  joy,  beyond 
all  he  felt  at  the  beauties  of  Paradise  ;  heard  it  walk 
ing  in  the  garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day,  and  he  hid 
himself  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God  among  the 
trees  of  the  garden.  His  wife  also  hid  herself,  for 
she,  too,  had  transgressed,  and  we,  their  moral  heirs, 
hide  ourselves  so  to  this  day.  They  could  walk  in  the 
garden  in  sight  of  the  beautiful  works  of  God,  per 
haps  admire  the  splendors  of  Eden,  but  when  they 
heard  His  voice,  they  hid  themselves.  Not  from  habit 
surely,  that  not  being  the  creature  of  a  day.  There 
was  "inveteracy,"  not  of  habit,  but  of  fallen  nature.  It 
is  that  which  must  be  "broken  in  upon"  before  we  shall 
incline  to  come  out  from  among  the  trees  to  welcome 
the  presence  of  God.  It  may  be  there  is  a  figurative 
meaning  in  this  hiding  among  the  trees  from  the  pres 
ence  of  Him  who  made  those  trees.  And  may  we 
not  deceive  ourselves  in  supposing  we  contemplate 
God  in  His  works,  when,  in  truth,  we  are  seeking  to 
hide  ourselves  from  His  presence  among  the  glorious 
trees  of  this  earth's  garden  ?  We 

have  revolted  from  God.  We  are  born  universally  in 
a  state  of  alienation  from  Him.  The  Scriptures  and 
all  experience  teach  this.  We  do  not  more  certainly 
inherit  the  transmitted  form  of  our  fallen  first-parents, 
than  their  descended  nature.  We  are  born  with  the 
need  of  being  "born  again."  Of  this  we  are  sure. 
We  cannot  evade  it.  It  is  our  fate  in  the  wisdom  of 
God.  We  cannot  escape  it  any  more  than  the  Old 
World  could  the  deluge.  We  have 

an  ark  of  safety,  to  be  sure,  capacious  enough  to  save 


34  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

the  entire  race  of  man.  It  will  save  only  those  who 
will  enter  it.  And  the  time  of  entering,  as  it  was  at 
the  flood,  is  before  the  sky  of  probation  is  overcast. 
The  door  is  that  now,  as  then,  before  the  falling  of 
the  first  great  drops  of  the  eternal  thunder  shower. 
The  ark  of  safety,  we  need  not  say,  is  Christ.  He  is 
the  Way,  the  Truth  and  the  Life.  No  man  can  come 
to  the  Father  but  by  Him.  Whoever  hath  seen  Him 
hath  seen  the  Father.  And  by  Him  is  the  only  mani 
festation  of  the  presence  of  God.  The  presence  of 
His  power  may  be  seen  in  all  objects  around  us.  But 
His  strong  love  to  the  children  of  men,  cannot  be  seen 
but  through  Christ. 

But  we  are  forgetting  that  our  Herald 
is  a  small  sheet.  We  have  not  space  to  notice  the 
exquisite  beauties  of  our  writer's  production  as  a 
composition  merely  ;  or  the  argument  it  draws  of 
God's  presence  from  his  works  ;  and  as  it  purports  to 
notice  merely  this  evidence  of  his  presence,  we  will 
not  here  express  our  regret  that  the  name  of  Christ  is 
not  mentioned  in  the  article.  May  the  gifted  writer, 
if  he  be  out  of  the  ark  of  safety,  not  delay  to  enter  in. 
Let  him  not  tarry  without  to  gaze  with  the  eye  of 
elegant  curiosity  on  the  scenery  of  this  Sodom  world 
— but  bow  his  neck,  "and  enter  while  there's  room." 
And  as  we  bespeak  his  immediate  heed  to  "the  one 
thing  needful,  "  so  we  demand  his  pen,  voice,  influ 
ence,  prayer  and  action  and  open  cooperation  in  the 
deliverance  of  his  fellow  countrymen  from  the  CHAIN 
OF  SLAVERY. 

Thus  loyal  was  the  editor  of  the  Herald  to  the 
religious  doctrine  and  teaching  of  his  time  in  the 
church  of  his  choice.  The  church  of  his  fathers 
through  nine  generations.  Thus  diligently  had  he 
studied  and  considered  them;  and  thus  eloquently  and 
faithfully,  though  tenderly  and  affectionately,  did  he 
present,  recommend  and  enforce  them,  whenever  and 
wherever  he  had  opportunity. 

In  1838  he  removed  from  Plymouth  to  Concord, 
and  became  sole  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom. 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  35 

He  had,  from  its  establishment  in  1834,  furnished 
many  most  brilliant  and  trenchant  articles  for  its 
columns.  To  the  readers  of  the  paper,  now  alas  ! 
the  most  of  them,  with  its  editor,  no  more,  nothing 
need  be  said  of  his  power  with  his  pen.  Only  a 
single  duodecimo  volume  of  three  hundred  and  eighty 
pages  of  his  editorial  writings  has  been  reprinted  and 
preserved,  and  that  long  ago  disappeared  from  the 
market.  Ten  dollars,  it  is  said,  have  been  offered  for 
a  single  copy  ;  though  that  perhaps  might  have  been 
before  most  of  the  early  readers  had  passed  away. 
Some  of  its  descriptive  articles  have  been  pronounced 
as  unsurpassed  in  life  and  vigor,  brilliancy  and  beauty, 
as  were  their  rebukes  of  slave  holders  and  their 
abettors  and  accomplices,  scathing,  withering,  but 
always  eminently  just. 

His  "  Jaunt  to  the  White  Mountains  "  with  Garrison 
in  the  year  1841,  was  copied  from  the  Herald  columns 
into  a  neat  tract  and  was  a  capital  contribution  to 
the  tourist  literature  of  that  period.  Its  length  pre 
cludes  possibility  of  insertion  here  ;  but  one  of  less 
volume  and  of  scarcely  less  power  entitled  Ailsa 
Craig,  may  not  so  reasonably  be  rejected.  For  the 
world  never  knew  the  sublimely  gifted  writer  as  it 
should  have  known  him,  and  doubtless  would,  but  for 
his  too  early  removal  to  higher  spheres.  Young 
readers  will  surely  pardon  a  page  or  two  when  they 
have  read  them,  introduced  here  for  their  profit  as 
well  as  pleasure,  showing  not  only  the  power  of  the 
writer,  but  also  giving  them  a  description  of  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  as  well  as  interesting  spots  in 
the  British  realm.  It  is  from  the  Herald  of  Freedom 
of  April  30,  1841: 

AILSA    CRAIG. 

This  famous  rock  in  the  Irish  Sea,  we  meant  to 
have  said  something  about  when  we  saw  it,  long 


36  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

before  this  time.  But  anti-slavery  makes  us  omit 
and  forget  the  wonders  of  the  Old  World.  We  passed 
it  on  a  trip  from  Scotland  to  Ireland.  We  left  Glas 
gow  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  July,  1840,  at  ten  in  the 
morning,  for  Dublin.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  in 
company,  our  fellow  passenger  to  the  Irish  Capital. 
We  went  on  board  a  steamer  and 
rode  down  the  ship-thronged  Clyde.  Nothing  can 
exceed  its  beauty  below  the  great  city  of  Glasgow. 
To  be  sure,  they  have  robbed  it  of  its  native  banks, — 
and  commerce  has  substituted  for  the  green  slope,  a 
sloping  wall  of  neat  and  firm  stone  masonry  on  each 
side,  and  straightened  its  once  indented  shores.  But 
the  utility  of  the  metamorphosis  is  so  mighty,  and  so 
palpable,  making  this  narrow  stream,  far  away 
inland,  the  highway  for  the  commerce  of  one  of  the 
great  ports  of  Britain  ;  of  a  city  as  large  as  New  York 
or  Liverpool,  where  the  largest  ships  may  ride  as 
freely  as  in  the  ocean  for  depth  of  water,  that  it  gives 
it  a  most  imposing,  singular,  and  interesting  appear 
ance.  It  is  hardly  broader  than  some  of  the  widest 
streets  of  London.  Our  little  steamer  elbowed  its 
way  among  the  keels  that  thronged  it  like  u  the  full 
tide  of  human  existence,"  along  the  slippery  pave 
ments  and  broad  side-walks  of  Cheapside,  or  Glas 
gow's  Broadway,  the  swarming  Irongate.  It  was 
amusing  to  see  the  ploughed  up  water  roll  along  the 
stone  banks,  half  way  up  their  slopes,  in  waves  that 
coiled  and  convolved  like  the  folds  of  the  sea  serpent. 
The  walls  were  a  good  deal  higher  than  the  natural 
shores,  which  were  wTet  and  low.  They  had  filled  in 
behind  them  with  earth,  and  made  high,  wide  and 
level  land  on  either  side  which  was  now  covered  with 
old  verdure,  and  planted  with  stately  trees  : — and  the 
promenader  might  take  his  rural  walk  there,  side  by 
side  with  the  winged  commerce  of  every  quarter  of 
the  globe  : — the  "white  sail  gliding  by  the  tree,"  and 
the  smoky  plumage  of  the  steamers  streaming  off  over 
among  the  glorious  woodlands.  We  made  our  way 
steadily,  though  not  rapidly  down  the  widening  chan 
nel,  and  came  to  where  the  "bonnie"  Vale  of  Leven, 
came  upon  the  Clyde  from  Loch  Lomond  and  its 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  37 

enclosing  mountains  which  we  could  descry  in  the 
misty  distance,  up  the  Vale. 

All  abolitionists  have  heard  of  the  Vale  of  Leven, 
and  remember  its  Remonstrance  to  the  Women  of 
America,  sent  over  here  some  four  years  ago,  and 
unfurled  over  the  heads  of  thousands  in  Broadway 
Tabernacle  at  an  anti-slavery  anniversary.  The 
four  thousand  Scottish  women  who  signed  it,  dwelt  in 
the  Vale  of  Leven.  We  saw  John  Summerville,  the 
minister  who  obtained  their  signatures.  What  would 
induce  one  of  our  clergy,  with  any  "  weight  of  influ 
ence  "  to  be  seen  going  about  for  women  s  signatures 
to  an  abolition  petition  ?  Where  Leven  Vale  meets 
the  Clyde  rises  a  tremendous  rock,  in  the  clefts  of 
which  lodges  the  grim  old  fortress  of  Dumbarton 
Castle,  famous  in  the  history  of  Sir  William  Wallace. 

The  river  soon  broadened  into  a  frith,  as  the 
Scotch  call  their  bays.  The  mountains  retreated  from 
each  other,  and  sails  were  to  be  seen  here  and  there  at 
anchor  in  the  coves  and  harbors  of  the  wide  waters 
near  their  bases.  WTe  met  a  naval  horse  race  on  the 
frith  of  eight  beautiful  little  vessels  at  the  very  top  of 
their  speed.  They  were  running  the  heats,  in  a  wide 
circle,  and  leaning  down  hard  to  the  sea  close  on 
each  other's  heels  ;  all  sail  crowded  they  made  the 
water  foam  white  about  their  prows.  It  was  quite  an 
animating  sight,  with  none  of  the  painful  sensations 
at  seeing  poor  quadruped  horses  scourged  and  pressed 
beyond  their  powers.  There  was  no  distress,  nor 
faltering  of  wind,  in  these  graceful  little  racers,  as 
they  swept  the  frith  of  Clyde. 

A  Mr.  McTear  had  come  aboard  the  steamer  at 
Greenock  for  Dublin.  He  was  a  Greenock  merchant. 
We  were  talking  with  him  on  the  deck  when  we  spied 
a  conical  rock,  as  it  seemed,  rising  out  of  the  water 
some  distance  ahead.  It  appeared  through  the  thin 
mists  like  a  hay  stack,  and  about  as  large.  We  spoke 
of  it  to  Mr.  McTear,  and  he  told  us  it  was  Ailsa 
Craig.  We  remembered  mention  of  it  by  Scott,  in  the 
Lord  of  the  Isles,  where  he  calls  it  rock  instead  of 
craig,  in  the  mouth  of  Robert  Bruce  : 

"  Lord  of  the  Isles,  my  trust  in  thee 
Is  firm  as  Ailsa  rock  !  " 


38  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

We  had  supposed  it  was  in  the  Forth  on  the  other 
side  of  Scotland.  As  we  were  looking  at  it, 
Mr.  McTear  asked  us  to  guess  the  distance  to  it. 
Strangers  he  said,  were  apt  to  greatly  mistake  the 
distance.  We  looked  at  the  rock  along  the  interven 
ing  water.  WTe  could  get  no  aid  from  the  shores 
which  were  at  great  distance,  quite  out  of  sight  on  one 
hand.  We  supposed  of  course,  we  should  underrate 
the  distance.  So  we  stretched  it  liberally,  as  we 
thought,  and  guessed  two  miles,  though  it  did  not 
look  like  that  distance.  You  have  made  the  common 
mistake,  he  said  ;  it  is  over  twenty.  We  could  hardly 
credit  it  ;  but  he  told  us  we  should  see  it  was  so,  for 
we  would  be  over  two  hours  getting  to  it  and  were 
going  at  ten  knots.  And  over  two  hours  it  was  ;  and 
such  was  the  deceptive  character  of  the  way,  that 
.  when  we  thought  we  were  coming  right  upon  it,  and 
wanting  our  friend  Garrison,  who  was  asleep  below, 
to  see  it,  we  went  down  and  told  him  to  hurry  up  and 
see  "Ailsa  Rock."  It  proved,  to  the  amazement  of  us 
both,  that  we  wrere  then  nearly  ten  miles  from  it. 
And  the  little  prominence,  that  looked  so  like  a  hay 
stack,  or  a  hay  cock,  when  we  descried  it  first,  grew 
as  we  neared  it,  a  mighty  mountain,  nine  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  high,  rising  abruptly  out  of  the  sea,  and 
two  miles  about  the  base. 

He  had  been  himself  governor  of  the  Craig  some 
years  before,  and  had  great  sport  and  some  danger  in 
killing  the  birds.  His  way  of  killing  them  was  with  a 
club,  and  he  told  us  how  many  thousands,  we  dare 
not  say  how  many  he  had  killed  in  a  single  day  of  a 
famous  kind  of  goose.  He  had  let  himself  down  to  a 
quarter  of  the  cliffs  where  they  hunted  to  get  the 
young  and  eggs,  and  the  old  ones  attacked  him  and 
he  fought  them  with  his  club  till  he  was  covered  with 
blood,  theirs  and  his  own.  He  had  a  good  mind,  he 
said,  to  give  them  one  gun,  just  to  let  us  see  them  fly, 
as  we  were  strangers.  As  he  had  been  the  .Marquis's 
governor,  he  said,  he  would  venture  that  he  would 
overlook  it  in  him.  He  ordered  his  boy  to  bring  the 
musket.  The  boy  returned  and  said  it  was  left 
behind  at  Glasgow.  "  Load  up  the  swivel  then,"  said 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  39 

the  captain.  "  It  will  be  all  the  better.  It  will  make 
quite  a  flight,  ye'll  find.  Load  her  up  pretty  well." 
The  steamer  meanwhile  kept  nearing  the  giant  craig, 
which  was  a  bare  rock  from  summit  to  sea,  and  all  of 
a  dull,  chalky  whiteness,  occasioned,  as  the  captain 
said,  by  the  excrement  of  the  birds.  We  saw  caves  in 
the  sides  of  the  mountain  and  down  by  the  water  ; 
the  retreats,  our  informant  told  us,  in  former  times,  of 
the  smugglers  who  used  to  frequent  the  craig  and 
carry  on  an  extensive  trade  from  these  places  of 
concealment.  We  had  got  so  near  as  to  see  the  white 
birds  flitting  across  the  entrances  to  the  caverns  like 
bees  about  the  hive.  WTith  the  spy-glass  we  could  see 
them  distinctly  and  in  very  considerable  numbers  ; 
and  at  length  approached  so  that  we  could  see  them 
on  the  ledges  all  over  the  sides  of  the  mountain.  We 
had  passed  the  skirt  of  the  craig,  and  were  within  a 
half  mile,  or  less,  of  its  base.  With  the  glass  we  could 
now  see  the  entire  mountain  side  peopled  with  the 
sea  fowl,  and  could  hear  their  whimpering,  household 
cry  as  they  moved  about,  or  nestled  in  domestic  snug- 
ness  on  the  ten  thousand  ledges.  The  air,  too,  about 
the  precipices,  seemed  to  be  alive  with  them.  Still 
we  had  not  the  slightest  conception  of  their  frightful 
multitude.  We  got  about  the  center  of  the  mountain, 
when  the  swivel  was  fired.  The  shot  went  point 
blank  against  it  and  struck  the  stupendous  preci 
pice,  as  from  top  to  bottom  with  a  reverberation  like 
the  discharge  of  a  hundred  cannon. 

And  what  a  sight  followed  !  They  rose  up  from 
that  mountain,  the  countless  myriads  and  millions  of 
sea  birds,  in  a  universal,  overwhelming  cloud  that 
covered  the  whole  heavens,  and  their  cry  was  like  the 
cry  of  an  alarmed  nation.  Up  they  went,  millions 
upon  millions,  ascending  like  the  smoke  of  a  furnace  ; 
countless  as  the  sands  on  the  sea  shore  ;  awful, 
dreadful  for  multitude,  as  if  the  whole  mountain  were 
dissolving  into  life  and  light,  and  with  an  unearthly 
kind  of  lament,  took  up  their  line  of  march  in  every 
direction  off  to  sea. 

The  sight  startled  the  people  on  board  the  steamer, 
who  had  often  witnessed  it  before,  and  for  some 


40  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

minutes  there  ensued  a  general  silence.  For  our  own 
part,  we  were  quite  amazed  and  overawed  at  the 
spectacle.  We  had  seen  nothing  like  it  before.  We 
had  seen  White  Mountain  Notches  and  Niagara  Falls 
in  our  own  land,  and  the  vastness  of  the  wide  and 
deep  ocean,  which  was  separating  us  from  it.  We  had 
seen  something  of  art's  magnificence  in  the  old  world; 
its  cloud-capped  towers,  gorgeous  palaces  and  solemn 
temples,  but  we  had  never  witnessed  sublimity  to  be 
compared  to  that  rising  of  sea-birds  from  Ailsa  Craig. 
They  were  of  countless  varieties  in  kind  and  size, 
from  the  largest  goose  to  the  smallest  marsh  bird,  and 
of  every  conceivable  variety  of  dismal  note.  Off  they 
moved  in  wild  and  alarmed  route,  like  a  people  going 
into  exile,  filling  the  air  far  and  wide,  with  their 
reproachful  lament  at  the  wanton  cruelty  that  had 
broken  them  up  and  driven  them  into  captivity.  We 
really  felt  remorse  at  it  ;  and  the  thought  might  have 
occurred  to  us  how  easy  it  would  h&ve  been  for  them, 
if  they  had  known  that  the  little,  smoking  speck  that 
was  laboring  along  the  sea-surface  beneath  them  had 
been  the  cause  of  their  banishment,  to  have  settled 
down  upon  it  and  engulfed  it  out  of  sight  forever. 
We  felt  astonished  that  we  had  never  heard  before 
of  this  wonderful  haunt  of  sea-fowl,  and  that  no  one 
had  ever  written  a  book  upon  it.  It  struck  us  really 
as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  And  not  us 
alone.  Others,  not  at  all  given  to  the  marvellous, 
declared  it  surpassed  everything  they  had  ever  before 
witnessed.  We  supposed  the  mountain  must  have 
been  quite  deserted  from  the  myriads  that  had  flown 
away ;  but  lifting  the  glass  to  it,  as  we  were 
leaving  its  border,  we  were  appalled  to  find  it 
still  alive  with  the  myriads  that  were  left  behind. 
They  kept  leaving  and  leaving  until  our  steamer 
got  far  beyond  the  Craig,  and  till  we  could  no 
longer  discern  their  departure  with  the  tele 
scope.  And  it  was  miles  off  into  the  dusky  Irish 
Sea,  before  we  saw  the  ebbing  of  their  mighty  move 
ment,  and  that  they  were  beginning  to  return.  We 
felt  relieved  to  see  them  going  back.  It  had  scarcely 
occurred  to  us  in  our  surprise,  that  they  were  not 


NATHANIEL  PEABODY  ROGERS.  4! 

leaving  their  native  cliffs  forever.  Slowly  and  sadly 
they  seemed  to  return,  while  the  eye  sought  in  vain 
to  ken  the  outskirts  of  their  mighty  caravan.  And 
Ailsa  Craig  had  sunk  far  into  our  rear,  and  quite 
sensibly  diminished  in  the  distance,  before  the  rear 
most  of  the  feathered  host  had  disappeared  from  our 
sight. 

The  excitement  occasioned  us  considerable  depres 
sion  of  spirits,  from  which  we  were  not  entirely 
relieved  until  night  came  down  upon  the  St.  George's 
Channel,  and  the  protracted  northern  twilight  could 
no  longer  disclose  objects  to  our  wearied  vision. 
Then  after  refreshing  ourselves  with  some  substantial 
confectionery,  with  which  dear  George  Thompson  had 
kindly  stuffed  our  pockets  from  a  shop  at  Greenock, 
before  leaving  "the  land  of  cakes,"  our  beloved  fellow- 
passenger  and  ourself,  after  sundry  fond  remem 
brances  of  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  some  expecta 
tions  of  next  day's  greeting  in  Dublin,  and  some 
grateful  sense,  as  we  trust,  of  the  goodness  that  had 
not  forgotten  us  amid  all  our  dangers  by  sea  and 
land,  we  forgot  what  we  had  seen,  and  whereabouts 
we  were,  in  the  arms  of  oblivious  sleep. 

To  do  justice  to  the  memory  of  Nathaniel  Peabody 
Rogers,  to  his  character  and  work,  would  require 
genius  and  inspiration  like  his  own.  Nor,  perhaps, 
would  this  cheap  age  even  then  understand  nor  com 
prehend  it.  It  manufactures  sham  and  shoddy  at  too 
many  of  its  mills,  political,  literary,  social,  moral  and 
religious.  It  quotes  Pope  and  Burns  about  an 
"  honest  man,"  but  seems  not  to  know  him  when  he 
comes.  It  celebrated  the  birthday  of  Robert  Burns 
with  much  pomp  and  demonstration  in  less  than  one 
month  after  it  hung  John  Brown  for  a  heroism  and 
devotion  to  freedom  and  humanity,  which  began, 
rekindled  with  divine  fervor,  where  the  zeal  of 
LaFayette  for  a  white  man's  liberty  paled  out  of 
human  sight.  And  socially,  morally  and  religiously 
it  had  hung  Rogers  long  before,  in  the  same 


42  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

persecuting  spirit  that  burned  his  illustrious  ancestor 
in  the  Smithneld  pyre.  In  the  true  spirit  of  martyr 
dom  did  Rogers,  like  John  Brown,  join  the  anti- 
slavery  movement  in  an  hour  of  peril.  Garrison  had 
been  mobbed  in  Boston,  as  was  said,  "in  broad  day, 
by  Boston's  best  men  in  broadcloth,  gentlemen  of 
property  and  standing  ; "  driven  from  a  female 
anti-slavery  concert  of  prayer  which  he  had  been 
invited  to  attend  and  address.  Mr.  Garrison  said  of 
the  spectacle  when  all  the  streets  near  the  place  of 
meeting  were  thronged  with  a  mob  burning  with 
murderous  intent  :  "  It  was  an  awful,  sublime  and 
soul-thrilling  scene — enough,  one  would  suppose,  to 
melt  adamantine  hearts,  and  make  even  fiends  of 
darkness  stagger  and  retreat.  Indeed  the  clear, 
untremulous  voice  of  that  Christian  heroine,  Miss 
Parker,  in  prayer  occasionally  awed  the  ruffians  into 
silence,  and  she  was  heard  distinctly,  even  in  the 
midst  of  their  hisses  and  yells  and  curses."  Garri 
son  withdrew  from  the  prayer  meeting  and  the  mayor 
entered  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  the  fiendish 
crew,  and  dispersed  it.  Then  the  cry,  the  shriek, 
the  yell  was,  "  we  must  have  Garrison."  "  Out  with 
him  !  Lynch  him  !  "  Some  of  the  rioters  discovered 
and  seized  him.  They  drew  him  furiously  to  a 
window  and  were  about  to  thrust  him  out,  when  one 
of  them  relented  and  said,  "  Let  us  not  kill  him  out 
right."  But  they  coiled  a  rope  about  his  body,  nearly ' 
stripped  him  of  his  clothing,  then  dragged  him 
through  the  streets  till  he  was  finally  rescued  byflosse 
comitatus  and  at  frightful  peril  was  at  length  got  to 
the  mayor's  office.  There  he  was  provided  with 
clothing  and  from  thence  sent  to  jail,  as  "  a  disturber 
of  the  peace,"  the  mayor  and  his  advisers  declaring 
that  "  the  only  way  to  preserve  his  life "  in  Alton. 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  43 

Rev.  Elijah  Parish  Lovejoy,  too,  another  anti- 
slavery  editor,  had  been  shot  and  killed  by  a  mob, 
five  bullets  being  taken  from  his  body,  three  from  his 
breast,  and  that,  too,  in  1837,  only  a  few  months 
before  Mr.  Rogers  removed  with  his  family  to  Con 
cord  to  conduct  the  Herald  of  Freedom.  So  that  in 
assuming  such  position,  he  also,  as  might  be  said, 
"  took  his  life  in  his  hand."  For  Concord  itself  was 
no  stranger  to  the  mob  at  that  time  and  for  years 
afterward  was  the  consecrated  guardian  of  slavery. 

As  a  member  of  the  Plymouth  Congregational 
church,  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  had  cooperated 
earnestly,  faithfully  in  works  of  religious  benevolence 
and  charity.  But  when  they  demanded  that  those  in 
bonds  in  their  own  country  should  be  remembered 
even  "  as  bound  with  them,"  they  were  repulsed  as 
disorderly,  contumacious  disturbers  of  the  peace 
of  the  church  and  its  minister,  who,  at  that 
time,  was  among  the  most  virulent  opposers  of  the 
whole  anti-slavery  enterprise.  But  they  did  not 
withdraw  from  their  church  connection  till  they  saw 
that  southern  slaveholders  were  more  welcome  to  the 
pulpit  and  sacramental  table,  than  were  faithful, 
devoted  abolitionists,  whose  moral  and  religious 
integrity  of  character,  as  well  as  soundness  of  opin 
ion,  were  above  reproach  or  suspicion.  Rogers, 
beyond  most  public  men,  ever  had  unshaken  faith  in 
the  people,  though  conservative  while  a  politician,  and 
orthodox  in  his  religious  faith.  When  he  left  the 
church  he  investigated  its  character  anew  and  for 
himself.  The  claims  of  the  clergy  to  prerogative  in 
things  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual,  he  soon  learned 
to  hold  in  profound  disesteem.  To  no  one  man  then 
living,  or  who  has  appeared  since,  does  the  world  owe 
more  than  to  him  for  exposing  and  rebuking  the 


44  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

arrogance  and  insolence,  not  to  say  down-right  fraud 
and  dishonesty,  of  a  ministry  whose  ruling,  directing 
power  in  all  the  great  popular  demonstrations  of  the 
land,  north  as  well  as  south,  was  exerted  in  support 
and  sanctincation  of  slavery.  The  exceptions  to  this 
charge  were  too  few  to  change  the  result,  as  will 
appear  in  the  progress  of  this  work. 

Mr.  Rogers  never  doubted  for  a  moment  that  the 
people,  well  and  wisely  taught,  would  abolish  slavery 
and  cease  to  oppress  one  another.  And  so  like  the 
Great  Emancipator  of  Nazareth,  he  directed  all  his 
sternest  strokes  and  rebukes  at  the  priests  and 
rulers,  who  really  "  bound  the  heavy  burdens  and  laid 
them  on  men's  shoulders,"  as  in  Judea,  two  thousand 
years  ago.  He  and  his  associates  of  the  Garrison 
school  of  abolitionists  relied  solely  on  the  power  of 
moral  and  spiritual  truth  to  rescue  the  slave  as  well 
as  to  redeem  and  save  the  world.  They  formed,  they 
joined  no  political  party.  They  abjured  the  ballot 
altogether  as  a  reforming  or  restoring  agency,  as 
much  as  they  did  the  bullet,  the  only  specie  redemp 
tion  of  the  ballot,  in  every  government  of  force. 
Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  were  members  and  officers 
of  the  New  England  Non-Resistance  Society.  And 
none  ever  more  highly  adorned  the  doctrine  of  their 
profession  than  they. 

As  one  with  vision  anointed  to  perceive  all  moral 
and  spiritual  truth,  Rogers  seemed  to  stand  almost 
alone.  His  editorial  writings  are  witness  to  this,  and 
wrill  be  to  more  than  the  next  generation.  It  were 
well  for  man  and ,  womankind,  if  whole  volumes  of 
them,  judiciously  selected,  could  be  reproduced  and 
scattered  everywhere,  like  the  shining  constellation 
among  the  dimmer  stars.  His  words  to-day  are, 
many  of  them,  wondrously  fresh  and  new. 


NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS.  45 

The  temperance  cause  had  no  firmer  or  more  con 
sistent  friend.  The  peace  societies  had  best,  of 
reasons  to  be  proud  of  his  support,  in  word  and  deed. 
To  him  human  life  was  sacred  as  the  life  of  God. 
Once,  at  a  grand  Peace  gathering,  it  was  strenuously 
argued  by  most  of  the  members  who  spoke,  that 
human  life  could  and  should  be  taken  by  divine  com 
mand.  And  the  president  of  the  society  himself 
made  an  argument  in  defence  of  all  the  slaughters 
of  the  Canaanites  and  other  tribes  and  peoples,  men, 
women  and  children,  by  Moses,  Joshua  and  their 
destroying  hosts,  because  perpetrated  by  command  of 
God.  It  was  at  one  of  the  last  meetings  Rogers  ever 
attended,  and  he  was  then  too  feeble  to  bear  an 
active  part  in  the  deliberations.  But  after  listening  a 
good  while  to  scripture  text  and  learned  logic  under 
Levitical  law,  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  in  low  voice 
asked  :  "  Does  our  brother  yonder  say  that  if  God 
commanded  him,  he  would  take  a  sword  and  use  it  in 
slaying  human  beings,  and  innocent,  helpless  human 
beings  ?  "Yes,  if  God  commanded,"  was  the  answer. 
"Well,  I  wouldn't,"  responded  Rogers,  and  sank 
back  into  his  seat,  amid  loud  cheers  of  evident 
approval  and  admiration. 

Woman,  to  him,  was  in  all  rights,  privileges  and 
prerogatives,  the  full  equal  of  man.  He  was  a 
Christian  in  the  divinest,  sublimest  sense  of  that  still 
mysterious  and  much  abused  word.  And  as  such  his 
kingdom  was  not  of  this  world.  And  so  he  could 
neither  vote  in,  nor  ask  others  to  vote  in  nor  to  fight 
for  any  government  based  on  military  power. 

As  husband  and  father,  none  ever  knew  one  in 
whom  his  family  were  more  supremely  felicitated. 
As  companion  and  friend,  blessed  and  happy  were  all 
those  who  enjoyed  his  confidence  and  esteem.  Gentle, 


46  NATHANIEL    PEABODY    ROGERS. 

simple,  tender,  kind,  ready  to  sacrifice  his  own  com 
fort  ;  sharing  on  occasion,  like  General  Washington, 
his  room  and  bed  with  a  colored  man,  and  yet  always 
discriminating  in  high  degree  ;  with  tastes  most 
refined  ;  ever  ready  to  criticise,  even  censure  a 
friend,  however  dear,  when  he  deemed  it  just  and 
demanded  ;  firm  as  his  own  Ailsa  Craig,  whenever  or 
wherever,  or  however  a  moral  principal  was  in 
jeopardy  ;  running  over  with  music,  poetry,  and 
culture  of  every  kind,  he  was  a  man,  the  like  of  whom 
the  world  has  seldom  seen — may  not  soon  see  again. 


CHAPTER    III. 

SLAVERY— AS   IT   WAS. 

Everybody  now  is  anti-slavery.  It  is  honorable 
now  to  be  a  child  of  the  man  who  "cast  the  first 
anti-slavery  vote  in  our  town  ;"  or  called  "our  first 
anti-slavery  meeting  ;"  or  first  entertained  Garrison 
as  guest,  or  Abby  Kelley,  or  Frederick  Douglass  ;  or 
rescued  Stephen  Foster  or  Lucy  Stone  from  the  hands 
of  a  ferocious  mob  ;  or  raised,  or  commanded  the 
first  company  of  colored  troops  in  the  war  of  Rebel 
lion,  at  the  time  when  not  a  musical  band  could  be 
found  in  the  whole  city  of  New  York  to  play  for  a 
colored  regiment,  as  it  marched  from  the  New  Haven 
Railway  station  to  the  steamer  at  the  foot  of  Canal 
street  to  embark  for  the  seat  of  war  !  "  Paid  pipers, " 
the  venerable  Dr.  Tyng  with  withering  scorn 
called  them  all  on  the  same  evening  in  Cooper  Insti 
tute,  where  he  presided  at  a  lecture  by  George  William 
Curtis.  "Paid  pipers,"  with  wind  too  immaculate  to 
blow  away  in  escort  of  a  gallant  battalion  of  our 
country's  saviors,  when  there  was  no  other  name  under 
heaven  given  among  men,"  whereby  the  nationality 
could  be  saved  but  the  negro  name ;  despised  as  he 
was  and  rejected  of  men;  "a  man  of  sorrows"  and 
acquainted  all  his  dreary  life  with  grief !  Everybody 
now  is  an  abolitionist,  or  son,  or  grandson  of  an  anti- 
slavery  parentage,  and  so  all  seem  to  claim  equal 
honor,  so  far  as  honor  is  due,  for  ridding  the  world  of 
the  sublimest  scourge  and  curse  that  ever  afflicted  the 
human  race. 


48  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

Few  now,  however,  have  much  conception  of  what 
slavery  was ;  or  what  was  genuine,  effective  anti- 
slavery,  when  slavery  sat  supreme  "on  its  throne  of 
skulls,"  and  ruled  the  whole  nation,  state,  church  and 
school,  literature,  trade,  commerce,  manufactures  and 
agriculture,  as  with  rod  of  iron  !  And  its  first 
command,  great  command,  only  command  was, 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  god  but  me."  Not,  as  from 
Mount  Sinai,  "no  other  gods  before  me,"  but  no  other 
god.  Not  "no  other  gods  before  me,"  but  "no  other 
gods  with,  or  above  or  below  me  !"  So  it  was.  Anti- 
slavery  then,  was  more  than  a  name  ;  more  than  pro 
fession  ;  or  denomination  in  religion  ;  or  party  in  the 
government.  So  Christianity  had  mighty  meanings 
when  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  wrote  :  "  I  am 
not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ."  And  "  I  deter 
mined  to  know  nothing  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified."  It  had  fearful  meanings  when  the 
gardens  of  Nero  were  illumined  with  the  burning 
bodies  of  martyred  saints,  both  men  and  women,  young 
and  old  !  When  to  name  the  Christ  of  God  was 
death  in  lingering  torments — when  crucifixions  were 
so  multiplied  that,  as  in  grim  epigram  it  was  said, 
"  space  was  wanted  for  crosses,  and  crosses  for  chris- 
tians."  And  yet  so  sublime  was  Christian  heroism  at 
that  hour,  that  it  could  have  well  been  added,  but 
christains  are  never  wanting  for  crosses. 

But  what  was  our  slave  system,  that  so  many  now 
proudly  claim  to  have  aided  to  destroy  ?  And  whose 
fathers  and  mothers  were  those  who  really  did  bear 
active,  effective  part  in  the  thirty  years  moral  and 
peaceful  conflict,  inaugurated  by  Garrison  with 
"sword  of  the  spirit ;  "  whose  only  weapons  were 

"  The  mild  arms  of  truth  and  love, 
Made  mighty  through  the  living  God  ?  " 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  49 

Or  whose  sons  and  brothers  rushed  at  last  to  the 
field  of  mortal  combat,  and  fought  the  bloodiest, 
mightiest,  everyway,  most  frightful  war,  that  has 
shaken  the  earth  and  darkened  the  skies  in  all  the 
Christian  years  ?  Slavery!  What  is  it  ?  What  was  it 
on  the  American  plantation  ?  "  Peculiar  Institution," 
some  called  it.  "  Patriarchal  Institution,"  others ! 
But  what  was  it?  All  language  pales  and  is  silent  in 
its  dread  presence.  Slave-holding  !  "  Deed  without 
a  name  !  "  In  cant  phrase  we  said  slavery  degrades 
man  to  the  brute,  sinks  woman  to  the  dead  level  of 
the  horse.  And  then  who  knows  the  height  and 
depth,  the  length  and  breadth  of  those  stunning 
words  ;  insulting  blasphemies  against  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  Humanity  !  Let  one  advertisement,  distributed  by 
large  handbills,  as  well  as  published  in  the  daily  news 
papers  of  New  Orleans,  aid  the  imagination  : 

RAFFLE.  MR.  JOSEPH  JENNINGS  respectfully  informs  his  friends  and 
the  public  that,  at  the  request  of  many  acquaintances,  he  has  been 
induced  to  purchase  from  Mr.  Osborne,  of  Missouri,  the  celebrated  DARK 
BAY  HORSE,  "  STAR,"  aged  five  years,  square  trotter  and  warranted 
sound  ;  with  a  new,  light  Trotting  Buggy  and  Harness :  Also  the  dark, 
stout  Mulatto  Girl,  u  Sarah,"  aged  about  twenty  years,  general  house 
servant,  valued  at  nine  hundred  dollars,  and  guaranteed:  and  will  be 
RAFFLED  for  at  four  o'clock  p.  M.,  February  first,  at  the  selection  hotel 
of  the  subscribers.  The  above  is  as  represented,  and  those  persons  who 
may  wish  to  engage  in  the  usual  practice  of  raffling  will,  I  assure  them,  be 
perfectly  satisfied  with  their  destiny  in  this  affair. 

The  whole  is  valued  at  its  just  worth,  fifteen  hundred  dollars  ;  fifteen 
hundred  CHANCES  at  One  Dollar  each.  The  Raffle  will  be  conducted 
by  gentlemen  selected  by  the  interested  subscribers  present.  Five  nights 
will  be  allowed  to  complete  the  Raffle.  Both  of  the  above  described  can  be 
seen  at  my  store,  No.  78  Common  street,  second  door  from  Camp,  at  from 
nine  o'clock,  A.  M.,  to  two  p.  M. 

Highest  throw  to  take  the  first  choice  ;  the  lowest  throw  the  remaining 
prize,  and  the  fortunate  winners  will  pay  Twenty  Dollars  each  for  the 
refreshments  furnished  on  the  occasion. 

N.  B.  No  chances  recognized  unless  paid  for  previous  to  the  commence 
ment.  JOSEPH  JENNINGS. 

In  the  light  of  a  spectacle  like  this,  it  is  possible  to 
fancy  slightly  what  should  be  understood  when  it  is 
said  that  slavery  degrades  human  beings  to  the  plane 
of  brute  beasts. 

Or  reverse  the  order  of  illustration,  if  we  dare,  and 
imagine  a  brute  beast  raised  to  the  dignity  and  honor, 


50  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

the  privilege  and  prerogative  of  a  man,  an  immortal 
being.  History  or  fable  tells  us  of  a  Roman  Sovereign 
who  made  a  favorite  horse  first  Consul  of  the  Empire. 
Such  mockery  might  have  been.  But  suppose  in  a 
Christian  country,  in  a  Christian  sanctuary,  it  were 
proposed  to  admit,  not  a  horse,  but  some  dogs  into 
full  fellowship  and  communion  with  the  church.  It  is 
on  a  delightful  Sunday  of  early  summer,  in  a  pleasant 
New  England  country  town.  The  village  gardens  are 
already  abloom  with  early  flowers,  the  orchards  are 
white  with  prophecy  of  abundant  fruit,  and  every  tree 
is  an  orchestra  of  cheerful  birds,  whose  worship-notes 
almost  charm  the  Sabbath  silence  into  sweet  accord 
with  the  songs  of  paradise.  All  the  village  and  the 
districts  around  assemble  at  their,  to  them,  "  house  of 
God."  At  the  appointed  hour,  the  baptized  commu 
nicants  of  the  accepted  faith  are  invited  to  seats  at 
the  sacramental  board.  The  unregenerate  of  the  con 
gregation  retire  to  the  outer  seats,  paying  silent  but 
respectful  attention.  The  first  scene  in  the  solemn 
service  is  admission  of  new  members,  who  are  invited 
forward  to  the  altar.  There,  in  presence  of  the  con 
gregation,  they  listen  and  bow  silent  assent  to  the 
Articles  of  Faith  and  the  Covenant  Vows,  and  receive 
the  seal  of  baptism,  in  the  name  of  the  triune  God. 
Solemn  and  impressive  as  this  may  be,  it  may  excite 
no  unusual  emotions,  being  neither  new  nor  infre 
quent.  But  slavery,  we  used  to  say  with  lip  only, 
"  degrades  man  and  woman  to  a  level  with  the 
brutes;"  puts  the  "bay  horse,  Star,"  and  the  "  Mu 
latto  girl,  Sarah,"  into  the  same  raffle,  or  on  the  same 
auction-block.  Now  change  the  order.  Elevate  the 
brutes  to  the  place  of  immortal  beings  at  the  baptismal 
font  and  sacramental  table.  Whistle  up  two  or  three 
dogs  and  solemnly  read  over  to  them  the  creed  and 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  51 

covenant,  and  sprinkle  them  with  the  holy  drops  of 
baptism,  calling  them  by  their  appropriate  brute 
names,  "  Lion,  I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Tiger, 
I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  let  the  third  be  a 
female  :  "Topsy,  I  baptize  thee  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Amen." 

Let  such  a  spectacle  be  enacted  on  a  delightful 
summer  Sunday  afternoon,  in  a  beautiful  New  Eng 
land  village,  in  its  pleasant  white  meeting-house,  and 
at  the  memorial  supper  of  that  crucified  Redeemer  in 
whom  the  church  and  its  pastor  devoutly  believed, 
and  through  whom  they  humbly  hoped  for  salvation. 
Can  the  effect  on  the  beholders  of  such  a  daring  spec 
tacle  be  described,  or  even  imagined  ?  As  well,  but 
no  better,  attempt  a  description  of  that  slavery  which 
truly  did  degrade  human  beings  to  a  level  with  horses 
and  with  dogs.  This  whole  scene  was  once  supposed 
as  illustration,  in  the  days  of  slavery,  in  just  such  town 
and  house  of  worship  as  here  described,  and  not  only 
that  town,  but  the  pulpit  and  religious  press  of  both 
the  hemispheres  almost  shrieked  as  with  holy  horror  at 
what  they  called  so  audacious,  so  diabolical  blasphemy. 
And  the  cry  came  up  from  near  and  far  for  imme 
diate  punishment  of  him  who  had  so  illumined  slavery, 
to  the  fullest  demand  of  the  statute,  which  was  long 
confinement,  it  was  held,  in  the  State  prison  !  But 
one  thing  was  made  clear.  The  words,  Slavery 
degrades  man  to  a  level  with  beasts,  were  seen  and 
felt  as  perhaps  never  before.  The  congregation  where 
the  illustration  was  presented  saw  and  solemnly  felt 
that  from  beasts  up  to  men — to  men  exalted  to  angelic 
heights — was  no  farther  than  those  deeps  down  which 


52  SALVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

immortal  man  is  plunged,  to  reach  the  level  of  the 
beasts  that  perish.  And  that  frightful  pit  was  reached 
by  every  chattel  slave  ever  born. 

But  the  question,  What  was  American  slavery  ?  is 
not  yet  answered.  To  call  it  robbery,  by  only  our  dic 
tionary  definition,  would  pay  it  high  compliment.  Its 
fell  work  began  where  all  ordinary  robbery  leaves  off. 
John  Wesley  saw  it  and  pronounced  it,  "  Sum  of  all 
villainies."  And  if  he  did  not  pronounce  the  slave 
holder  sum  of  all  villains,  he  did  address  him  in  words 
like  these  : 

What  I  have  said  to  slave-traders,  equally  concerns 
all  slave-holders,  of  whatever  rank  and  degree,  seeing 
man-buyers  are  exactly  on  a  level  with  man-stealers. 
You  say,  I  pay  honestly  for  my  goods,  and  am  not 
concerned  to  know  they  are  honestly  come  by.  Nay, 
but  you  are.  *  *  *  You  know  they  are  not 
honestly  come  by  ;  you  know  they  are  procured  by 
means  nothing  near  so  innocent  as  picking  pockets, 
house-breaking,  or  robbery  on  the  highway.  You 
know  they  are  procured  by  a  deliberate  species  of 
more  complicated  villainy,  of  fraud,  robbery  and  mur 
der,  than  was  ever  practiced  by  Mohammedans  or 
Pagans  ;  in  particular,  by  murders  of  all  kinds  ;  by  the 
blood  of  the  innocent  poured  upon  the  ground  like 
water.  Now  it  is  your  money  that  pays  the  African 
butcher.  You,  therefore,  are  principally  guilty  of  all 
these  frauds,  robberies  and  murders.  You  are  the 
spring  that  puts  all  the  rest  in  motion.  They  would 
not  stir  a  step  without  you  :  therefore  the  blood  of  all 
these  wretches  who  die  before  their  time  lies  upon 
your  head.  "  The  blood  of  thy  brother  crieth  against 
thee  from  the  earth."  O,  whatever  it  costs,  put  a  stop 
to  its  cry  before  it  be  too  late  ;  instantly,  at  any  price, 
were  it  the  half  of  your  goods,  deliver  thyself  from 
blood-guiltiness  !  Thy  hands,  thy  bed,  thy  furniture, 
thy  house,  and  thy  lands,  at  present  are  stained  with 
blood.  Surely  it  is  enough  ;  accumulate  no  more 
guilt ;  spill  no  more  the  blood  of  the  innocent.  Do 
not  hire  another  to  shed  blood  ;  do  not  pay  him  for 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  53 

doing  it.  Whether  you  are  a  Christian  or  not,  show 
yourself  a  man  !  Be  not  more  savage  than  a  lion  or 
a  bear. 

Slavery  is  not  robbery  therefore,  because  it  is  so 
much  more,  and  worse.  Indeed,  to  rob  man  of  man 
hood,  and  beastialize  him  down  with  not  only  animals, 
but  the  dead  matter  on  which  brutes  feed  and  tread, 
makes  any  farther  spoliation  simply  impossible. 

Or  shall  we  pronounce  American  slavery  adultery, 
wholesale,  unblushing  adultery  ?  If  not,  it  must  be 
because,  as  with  robbery,  it  was  something  so  much 
worse.  For,  first,  what  is  adultery  but  setting  aside 
all  rights,  privileges  and  responsibilities,  human  and 
divine,  of  both  the  marriage  and  parental  relations  ? 
Slavery  knew  no  more  of  marriage  and  parentage 
among  slaves  than  among  swine.  Logically,  as  well 
as  legally,  it  could  not.  And  the  statutes  and  court 
decisions  so  declared. 

But  such  abomination  had  not  only  state  sanction, 
but  church  sanctification  as  well.  Judge  Birney,  of 
Kentucky,  once  a  slave-holder,  in  his  memorable  tract 
entitled  :  "  The  American  Churches  the  Bulwarks  of 
American  Slavery,"  second  edition,  revised  by  the 
author,  cites  this  instance  : 

In  1835  the  following  query  referring  to  slaves  was 
presented  to  the  Savannah  River  Baptist  Association 
of  Ministers  :  "  Whether  in  case  of  involuntary  sepa 
ration  of  such  a  character  as  to  preclude  all  prospect 
of  future  intercourse,  the  parties  ought  to  be  allowed 
to  marry  again." 

The  following  was  the  answer  : 

*  *  *  Such  separation  among  persons  situated  as 
are  our  slaves,  is  civilly  a  separation  by  death.  And 
we  believe  that  in  the  sight  of  God,  it  would  be  so 
viewed  !  *  The  slaves  are  not  free 

agents,  and  a  dissolution  by  death  is  not  more  entirely 
without  their  consent  and  beyond  their  control  than  by 
such  separation. 


54  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

James  G.  Birney  was  at  one  time  a  slave-holder  as 
well  as  judge  in  the  courts,  and  a  ruling  elder  in 
the  Presbyterian  church.  He  was  induced  to  emanci 
pate  his  slaves,  as  well  as  to  provide  for  their  future 
support,  taking  them  over  into  the  free  state  of  Ohio 
for  that  purpose,  by  the  faithful  and  earnest  argument 
and  appeal  of  Theodore  D.  Weld,  an  early,  eloquent 
and  everyway  most  efficient  apostle  and  laborer  in  the 
anti-slavery  field.  Washing  his  own  hands  from  the 
blood  and  guilt  of  slave  holding,  Judge  Birney  set 
himself  to  the  work  of  abolishing  the  foul  system. 
Among  his  first  endeavors  was  an  attempt  to  purify 
the  churches,  beginning  with  his  own.  But  neither  his 
official  standing  in  both  state  and  church,  nor  his  high 
consequent  social  status  availed  to  shield  him  from 
every  possible  indignity  and  outrage  at  the  hands  of 
infuriated  mobs,  composed  largely  sometimes  of  mem 
bers  of  the  churches.  Driven  from  Kentucky  he 
removed  to  Ohio.  His  descent  on  Cincinnati,  where  he 
had  now  become  known,  was  a  signal  to  waken  all  the 
vengeance  of  both  church  and  state  against  him. 
Meetings  were  at  once  called,  "  to  see  if  the  people 
will  permit  abolition  papers  to  be  published  in  this 
city."  At  the  first  meeting  the  postmaster,  who  was 
also  a  minister,  presided.  A  committee  of  thirteen, 
all  eminent  citizens,  and  eight  of  them  church  mem 
bers,  was  appointed  to  wait  on  Mr.  Birney  and  assure 
him  that  his  paper  must  stop,  or  the  meeting  would 
not  be  responsible  for  the  consequences  of  its  continu 
ance.  The  chairman  of  the  committee  declared  that 
"  if  the  paper  were  not  promptly  suspended,  a  mob, 
unusual  in  numbers,  determined  in  purpose,  and  deso 
lating  in  its  ravages,  would  be  inevitable  !"  All  of 
which  proved  true,  for  the  paper  did  not  stop.  In  the 
darkness  of  midnight  the  mob  entered  and  carried 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  55 

press,  types  and  all  else  of  contents  and  sunk  them  in 
the  Ohio  river.  And  twice  afterwards  was  the  same 
outrage  perpetrated.  No  wonder  Mr.  Burney  enti 
tled  his  memorable  tract,  published  at  the  time,  "  The 
American  Churches  the  Bulwarks  of  American  Slavery." 
For  the  title  was  more  than  justified  on  every  subse 
quent  page,  as  will  hereafter  be  made  to  appear.  And 
the  word  of  divine  truth  uttered  by  Mr.  Weld,  and  the 
baptism  of  fire  and  water  three  times  administered  by 
the  fiendish  mob,  with  full  approval  of  state,  church  and 
pulpit,  were  sufficient  consecration  of  the  author  of 
the  memorable  tract  to  his  subsequent  anti-slavery 
ministry  and  apostleship. 

But  returning  to  the  argument.  Not  only  was  slavery 
adultery,  as  sanctified  and  committed  by  the  churches, 
in  thus  sundering  all  marriage  rights  and  responsibili 
ties  ;  it  was  legally  and  in  solemn  compact  annihila 
tion  of  human  marriage  and  parentage.  The  court 
decisions  contained  sentiments  such  as  these  :  "With 
consent  of  their  masters,  slaves  may  marry  ;  but  in  a 
state  of  slavery  it  can  produce  no  civil  effect,  because 
slaves  are  deprived  of  all  civil  rights."  [Judge  Mat 
thews,  of  Louisiana.^  Attorney-General  Delany,  of 
Maryland,  held  that  slaves  would  not  be  admonished 
for  incontinence,  or  punished  for  adultery  or  forni 
cation  ;  or  prosecuted  for  petty  treason,  or  for  killing 
a  husband,  being  a  slave.  The  code  of  Louisiana 
declared,  "  a  slave  could  not  contract  matrimony. 
The  association  which  takes  place  among  slaves,  and 
is  called  marriage,  being  properly  designated  contuber- 
nium,  a  relation  without  sanctity,  and  to  which  no  civil 
rights  adhere."  So  the  plain,  unquestionable  fact  was, 
slavery  was  wholesale,  legalized,  sanctified  concubin 
age,  or  adultery,  from  first  to  last.  Our  government 
was  based  on  the  prostrate  bodies,  souls  and  civil,. 


56  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

social,  marital,  parental,  educational,  moral  and  relig 
ious  rights  of  half  a  million  of  immortal  beings.  In 
three-quarters  of  a  century  their  numbers  multiplied  till 
at  the  downfall  of  the  institution  there  were  four  mil 
lions,  and  not  one  legal  marriage  ever  existed  in  all 
their  generations  !  And  yet,  compelled  by  law  thus 
to  live  and  herd  like  brute  beasts,  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  them  were  admitted  to  baptism  and  sacramen 
tal  communion  and  fellowship  in  all  the  great  evan 
gelical  denominations  in  the  land  ! 

One  other  attribute  of  the  dreadful  system  remains 
to  be  exposed,  and  that  was  murder.  Under  the  writ 
ten  law  of  slavery,  more  than  seventy  offences,  when 
committed  by  slaves,  were  punishable  with  death.  One 
law  read,  "  if  any  slave  shall  presume  to  strike  any 
white  person,  such  slave  may  be  lawfully  killed."  Of 
course  killed  on  the  spot.  A  woman  or  girl  would 
have  been  killed  (undoubtedly  many  were  killed)  for 
defending  her  person  against  the  lustful  attack  of  her 
overseer  or  other  white  assailant. 

Special  laws  existed  for  recapturing  escaped  slaves 
at  any  cost  of  life  to  the  victims,  by  first  proclaiming 
them  outlaws.  The  following  legal  instrument  with 
its  accompaniments  will  suffice  to  show  the  way  : 

STATE  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA,  } 
Lenoir  County.  j 

Whereas,  complaint  hath  been  this  day  made  to  us,  two  of  the  Justices 
of  the  Peace  for  the  said  county,  by  William  D.  Cobb,  of  Jones  county, 
that  two  negro  slaves  belonging  to  him,  named  Ben  (commonly  known  by 
the  name  of  Ben  Fox)  and  Rigdon.  have  absented  themselves  from  their 
said  master's  service,  and  are  lurking  about  in  the  counties  of  Lenoir  and 
Jones,  committing  acts  of  felony  ; — these  are,  in  the  name  of  the  State,  to 
command  the  said  slaves  forthwith  to  surrender  themselves,  and  return 
home  to  their  said  master.  And  we  do  hereby,  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  the 
Assembly  of  this  State,  concerning  servants  and  slaves,  intimate  and  de 
clare,  if  the  said  slaves  do  not  surrender  themselves  and  return  home  to 
their  master  immediately  after  the  publication  of  these  presents,  that  any 
person  may  kill  and  destroy  said  slaves  by  such  means  as  he  or  they  think 
fit,  without  accusation  or  impeachment  of  any  crime  or  offence  for  so 
doing,  or  without  incurring  any  penalty  or  forfeiture  thereby. 
Given  under  our  hands  and  seals,  this  i2th  day  of  November,  1836. 

B.  COLEMAN,  J.  P.  [Seal.] 
JAMES  JONES,  J.  P.  [Seal.] 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  57 

Two  HUNDRED  DOLLARS  REWARD. — Ran  away  from  the  subscriber,  a 
certain  negro  man  named  Ben,  (commonly  known  by  the  name  of  Ben  Fox). 
Also,  one  other  negro,  by  the  name  of  Rigdon,  who  ran  away  on  the  8th  of 
this  month. 

I  will  give  the  reward  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  each  of  the  above 
negroes,  to  be  delivered  to  me  or  confined  in  the  jail  of  Lenoir  or  Jones 
county,  or  for  the  killing  of  them,  so  that  I  can  see  them. 

November  12,  1836.  W.  D.  COBB. 

Another  advertisement,  from  the  Sumpter  County 
(Alabama)  Whig,  will  illustrate  the  methods  of  slave 
hunting  in  other  States  besides  North  Carolina  : 

NEGRO    DOGS.— The  undersigned  having  bought   the   entire   pack  of 
NEGRO  DOGS  of   the  Hay  &  Allen  stock,  he  now  proposes  to  catch 
runaway  negroes.     His  charge  will  be  three  dollars  a  day  for  hunting;  and 
fifteen  dollars  for  catching  a  runaway.     He   resides  three   and   one-half 
miles  north  of  Livingston,  near  the  lower  Jones'  Bluff  road. 

November  6,  1845.  WM.  GAMBEL. 

The  New  York  Commercial-Advertiser  of  June  8th, 
1827,  contained  the  following  item  of  news,  not  uncom 
mon  at  that  time,  as  the  irresponsibility  of  slave-holders 
over  the  lives  of  their  slaves  had  hardly  been  ques 
tioned  : 

HUNTING  MEN  WITH  DOGS. — A  negro  who  had 
absconded -from  his  master,  and  for  whom  a  reward 
of  a  hundred  dollars  was  offered,  has  been  appre 
hended  and  committed  to  prison  in  Savannah. 

The  editor  who  states  the  fact  adds,  with  as  much 
coolness  as  though  there  were  no  barbarity  in  the 
matter,  that  he  did  not  surrender  till  he  was  consider 
ably  maimed  by  the  dogs  that  had  been  set  on  him — 
desperately  fighting  them,  and  badly  cutting  one  of 
them  with  a  sword. 

The  St.  Francisville  (La.)  Chronicle  of  February 
ist,  1839,  reports  a  slave-hunt  after  this  sort  : 

Two  or  three  days  ago  a  gentleman  of  this  parish,  in 
hunting  runaway  negroes,  came  upon  a  camp  of  them 
in  the  swamp  on  Cat  Island.  He  succeeded  in  arrest 
ing  two  of  them,  but  the  third  made  fight.  On  being 
shot  in  the  shoulder,  he  fled  to  a  sluice,  where,  the 
dogs  succeeded  in  drowning  him  before  assistance 
could  arrive. 

Had  ''•assistance  arrived,"  would  it  have  been  ten 
dered  to  the  dogs  or  their  victim  ?  is  a  question,  to 

s 


58  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

this  day.  But  calling  off  the  dogs  altogether,  let  the 
subject  be  illumined  a  little  farther  with  lights  like 
this,  from  the  Charleston  (S.  C.)  Courier,  in  1825. 

TWENTY  DOLLARS  REWARD. -Ran  away  from  the  subscriber,  on 
the  i4th  instant,  a  negro  girl  named  Molly.   She  is  16  or  17  years  of  age, 
slim  made,  lately  BRANDED   ON  HER  LEFT  CHEEK,  THUS,  "  R,"  AND  A  PIECE 

IS  TAKEN  OFF  HER  EAR  ON  THE  SAME  SIDE  ;  THE  SAME  LETTER  IS  BRANDED  ON 
THE  INSIDE  OF  BOTH  HER  LEGS. 

ABNER  ROSS,  Fairfield  District,  S.  C. 

True,  the  killing  is  here  omitted,  possibly  by  acci 
dent,  but  if  such  an  atrocity  does  not  involve  murder, 
sublimated,  what  shall  be  said  of  this  from  the  Wil 
mington  (N.  C.)  Advertiser  of  July  i3th,  1838? 


ANAWAY— MY    NEGRO  MAN,  RICHARD.— A  reward  of  twenty- 
five  dollars  will  be  paid  for  his  apprehension,  DEAD  OK  ALIVE  !     Satis 


factory  proofwill  only  be  required  of  his  being  killed.  He  has  with  him, 
in  all  probability,  his  wife,  Eliza,  who  ran  awav  from  Colonel  Thompson, 
now  a  resident  of  Alabama. 

But  no  more  such  evidences  of  the  murderous  spirit 
of  slavery  can  be  needed  ;  though  the  last  advertise 
ment  suggests  an  incident  in  South  Carolina,  so  late 
as  1844,  which  is  too  instructive  and  assuring  not  to 
be  given. 

That  "  wife,  Eliza,  who  ran  away  from  Colonel 
Thompson,"  possibly  might  have  a  tale  unfolded, 
whose  lightest  word  would  have  harrowed  up  the  soul. 
There  were  many  such  tales.  A  young  man  in  South 
Carolina  was  seen  walking  with  a  young  woman,  a 
slave,  to  whom  it  was  known  he  was  tenderly  attached, 
and  whom,  it  was  farther  shown,  he  married  and 
aided  to  escape  from  slavery.  That  was  his  crime. 
He  was  arrested,  tried,  and  found  guilty.  Sentence 
of  death  was  pronounced  upon  him  by  Judge  J.  B. 
O'Neale,  in  word  and  spirit  as  now  reproduced  : 

JOHN  L.  BROWN — It  is  my  duty  to  announce  to  you 
the  consequences  of  the  conviction  which  you  heard 
at  Winnsboro',  and  of  the  opinion  you  have  just 
heard  read,  refusing  your  two-fold  motion  in  arrest 
of  judgment  for  a  new  trial. 

You  are  to  die  !  To  die  an  ignominious  death — 
the  death  on  the  gallows  !  This  announcement  is,  to 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  59 

you,  I  know,  most  appalling.  Little  did  you  dream  of 
it  when  you  stepped  into  the  bar  with  an  air  as  if  you 
thought  it  was  a  fine  frolic.  But  the  consequences  of 
crime  are  just  such  as  you  are  realizing.  Punishment 
often  comes  when  it  is  least  expected.  Let  me 
entreat  you  to  take  the  present  opportunity  to  com 
mence  the  work  of  reformation.  Time  will  be  fur 
nished  you  to  prepare  for  the  great  change  just  before 
you.  Of  your  past  life  I  know  nothing,  except  what 
your  trial  .furnished.  That  told  me  that  the  crime  for 
which  you  are  to  suffer  was  the  consequence  of  a 
want  of  attention  on  your  part  to  the  duties  of  life. 
The  strange  woman  snared  you.  She  flattered  you 
with  her  words,  and  you  became  her  victim.  The 
consequence  was,  that,  led  on  by  a  desire  to  serve  her, 
you  committed  the  offense  of  aiding  a  slave  to  run 
away  and  depart  from  her  master's  service  ;  and  now, 
for  it  you  are  to  die  ! 

You  are  a  young  man,  and  -I  fear  you  have  been 
dissolute  ;  and  if  so,  these  kindred  vices  have  con 
tributed  a  full  measure  to  your  ruin.  Reflect  on  your 
past  life,  and  make  the  only  useful  devotion  of  the 
remnant  of  your  days  in  preparing  for  death. 

Remember  now  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy 
youth,  is  the  language  of  inspired  wisdom.  This 
comes  home  appropriately  to  you  in  this  trying  mo 
ment. 

You  are  young  ;  quite  too  young  to  be  where  you 
are.  If  you  had  remembered  your  Creator  in  your  past 
days,  you  would  not  now  be  in  a  felon's  place,  to  receive 
a  felon's  judgment.  Still,  it  is  not  too  late  to  remem 
ber  your  Creator.  He  calls  early,  and  He  calls  late. 
He  stretches  out  the  arms  of  a  Father's  love  to  you — 
to  the  vilest  sinner — and  says  :  "  Come  unto  me  and 
be  saved."  You  can  perhaps,  read.  If  so,  read  the 
Scriptures  ;  read  them  without  note,  and  without  com 
ment  ;  and  pray  to  God  for  His  assistance  ;  and  you 
will  be  able  to  say  when  you  pass  from  prison  to  exe 
cution,  as  a  poor  slave  said  under  similar  circum 
stances  :  "I  am  glad  my  Friday  has  come."  If  you 
cannot  read  the  Scriptures,  the  ministers  of  our  holy 
religion  will  be  ready  to  aid  you.  They  will  read  and 


60  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS! 

explain  to  you  until  you  will  be  able  to  understand  ; 
and  understanding,  to  call  upon  the  only  One  who 
can  help  you  and  save  you — Jesus  Christ,  the  Lamb 
of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  To 
Him  I  commend  you.  And  through  Him  may  y 
have  that  opening  of  the  Day-Spring  of  mercy  from 
on  high,  which  shall  bless  you  here,  and  crown  you  as 
a  saint  in  an  everlasting  world,  forever  and  ever. 

The  sentence  of  the  law  is  that  you  be  taken  hence 
to  the  place  from  whence  you  came  last  ;  thence  to 
the  jail  of  Fairfield  District  ;  and  that  there  you  be 
closely  and  securely  confined  until  Friday,  the  26th 
day  of  April  next  ;  on  which  day,  between  the  hours 
of  ten  in  the  forenoon  and  two  in  the  afternoon,  you 
will  be  taken  to  the  place  of  public  execution,  and 
there  be. hanged  by  the  neck  till  your  body  be  dead. 
And  may  God  have  mercy  on  your  soul  ! 

No  event  in  anti-slavery  history  up  to  that  time  so 
stirred  the  two  hemispheres  as  did  this  frightful  sen 
tence  of  Judge  O'Neale.  Even  in  the  British  House  of 
Lords,  two  illustrious  members,  Brougham  and  Den- 
man,  gave  it  pathetic  and  powerful  consideration. 
One  London  journal  said:  "The  dreadful  case  of 
John  L.  Brown  has  created  throughout  Great  Britain, 
a  sensation  of  deepest  and  most  painful  character. 
Addresses  to  the  churches  in  South  Carolina  have 
been  extensively  signed  by  the  independent  churches 
in  England  and  Scotland." 

The  Glasgow  Argus,  among  the  most  important 
journals  of  Scotland,  twice  published  the  Charge  on 
account  of  its  fearful  character,  and  said  of  it,  "-we 
know  of  nothing  more  atrocious  in  the  judicial  annals 
of  modern  times.  And  what  are  we 

to  think  of  a  judge,  who  in  passing  sentence  for  what 
in  our  country,  our  land  of  Freedom,  would  be  looked 
upon  as  a  praiseworthy  act,  invokes  the  sacred  name 
of  Deity  and  the  Holy  Book  of  Inspiration  as  lending 
sanction  to  the  atrocity  about  to  be  committed!" 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  6l 

But  perhaps  the  most  imposing  movement  in  Great 
Britain,  on  this  terrible  perversion  of  all  justice,  as 
well  as  outrage  on  all  decency,  humanity  and  charity, 
was  a  "  Memorial  addressed  to  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  South  Carolina,  as  representing  those  of  other  states," 
signed  by  more  than  thirteen  hundred  ministers 
and  office-holders  in  the  churches  and  other  benevo 
lent  associations  of  London,  and  other  portions  of  the 
kingdom,  in  solemn  protest  against  it.  But  it  need 
hardly  be  told,  that  all  the  sympathy  felt,  all  the  effort 
made,  all  the  appeals  and  memorials  sent,  eloquent, 
tender,  pathetic,  devout  as  many,  if  not  all  of  them 
were,  seemed  almost  wholly  thrown  away  on  the  press, 
pulpit,  and  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  even  though  South  Carolina  did  yield  to 
foreign  pressure  at  last,  and  commuted  the  sentence  to 
fifty  lashes  on  the  bare  back  ;  and  even  they  were 
said  to  have  been  remitted  on  condition  that  the 
young  man  quit  the  state  forever. 

But  this  account  though  already  extended,  would 
not  be  complete  unless  the  feelings  excited  in  the 
hearts  of  the  American  Abolitionists,  in  view  of  the 
whole  scene,  could  have  utterance.  Let  then  their 
favorite  and  faithful  poet,  Whittier,  be  their  oracle  : 

ON   THE   SENTENCE   OF  JOHN   L.   BROWN. 

Ho  !     thou  who  seekest  late  and  long 

A  License  from  the  Holy  Book 
For  brutal  lust  and  hellish  wrong, 

Man  of  the  Pulpit,  look  ! 
Lift  up  those  cold  and  atheist  eyes, 

This  ripe  fruit  of  thy  teaching  see  ; 
And  tell  us  how  to  heaven  will  rise  % 

The  incense  of  this  sacrifice — 
This  blossom  of  the  gallows  tree  ! 

Search  out  for  slavery's  hour  of  need 

Some  fitting  text  of  sacred  writ  ; 
Give  heaven  the  credit*of  a  deed 

Which  shames  the  nether  pit. 


62  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

Kneel,  smooth  blasphemer,  unto  Him 
Whose  truth  is  on  thy  lips  a  lie — 

Ask  that  His  bright  winged  cherubim 
May  bend  around  that  scaffold  grim 

To  guard  and  bless  and  sanctify. 

Ho  !  champion  of  the  people's  cause — 

^Suspend  thy  loud  and  vain  rebuke 

OT  foreign  wrong  and  Old  World's  laws — 

Man  of  the  Senate,  look  ! 
Was  this  the  promise  of  the  free, 

The  great  hope  of  our  early  time — 
That  slavery's  poison  vine  should  be 

Upborne  by  Freedom's  prayer-nurs'd  tree 
O'erclustered  with  such  fruits  of  crime  ? 

Send  out  the  summons  East  and  West, 

And  South  and  North,  let  all  be  there 
W7here  he  who  pitied  the  oppressed 

Swings  out  in  sun  and  air. 
Let  not  a  Democratic  hand 

The  grisly  hangman's  task  refuse  ; 
There  let  each  loyal  patriot  stand, 

Awaiting  slavery's  command, 
To  twist  the  rope  and  draw  the  noose  ! 

But  vain  is  irony — unmeet 

Its  cold  rebuke  for  deeds  which  start 
In  fiery  and  indignant  beat 

The  pulses  of  the  heart. 
Leave  studied  wit  and  guarded  phrase 

For  those  who  think  but  do  not  feel — 
Let  MEN  speak  out  in  words  which  raise 

Where'er  they  fall,  an  answering  blaze 
Like  flints  which  strike  the  fire  from  steel. 

Still  let  a  mousing  priesthood  ply 

Their  garbled  text  and  gloss  of  sin, 
And  make  the  lettered  scroll  deny 

Its  living  soul  within  : 
Still  let  the  place-fed,  titled  knave 

Plead  robbery's  right  with  purchased  lips, 
And  tell  us  that  our  fathers  gave 

For  Freedom's  pedestal,  a  slave, 
The  frieze  and  moulding,  chains  and  whips  \ 

But  ye  who  own  that  Higher  Law 
Whose  tablets  in  the  heart  are  set, 

Speak  out  in  words  of  power  and  awe 
THAT  GOD  is  LIVING  YET  ! 

Breathe  forth  once  more  those  tones  sublime 
Which  thrilled  the  burdened  prophet's  lyre, 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  63 

And  in  a  dark  and  evil  time 

Smote  down  on  Israel's  fast  of  crime 
And  gift  of  blood,  A  KAIN  OF  FIRE  ! 

Oh,  not  for  us  the  graceful  lay 

To  whose  soft  measures  lightly  move 
The  Dryad  and  the  woodland  fay, 

O'er-locked  by  mirth  and  love  ! 
But  such  a  stern  and  startling  strain 

As  Britain's  hunted  bards  flung  down 
From  Snowden  to  the  conquered  plain, 

Where  harshly  clanked  the  Saxon  chain, 
On  trampled  field  and  smoking  town. 

By  Liberty's  dishonored  name, 

By  man's  lost  hope  and  failing  trust. 
By  words  and  deeds  which  bow  with  shame 

Our  foreheads  to  the  dust ; 
By  the  exulting  Tyrant's  sneer, 

Borne  to  us  from  the  Old  World's  thrones, 
And  by  his  victims'  griefs  ^-ho  hear, 

In  sunless  mines  and  dungeons  drear, 
How  Freedom's  land  her  faith  disowns  ! 

Speak  out  in  ACTS,  the  time  for  words 

Has  passed  ;  and  DEEDS  alone  suffice  ; 
In  the  loud  clang  of  meeting  swords 

The  softer  music  dies  ! 
Act — act  in  God's  name,  while  ye  may  ! 

Smite  from  the  CHURCH,  her  leprous  limb  ! 
Throw  open  to  the  light  of  day 

The  bondman's  cell,  and  break  away 
The  chains  the  STATE  has  bound  on  him  ! 

Ho  !  every  true  and  living  soul. 

To  Freedom's  perilled  altar  bear 
The  Freeman's  and  the  Christian's  whole 

Tongue,  pen,  and  vote,  and  prayer  ! 
One  last,  great  battle  for  the  right— 

One  short,  sharp  struggle  to  be  free  ! 
To  do  is  to  succeed — our  fight 

Is  waged  in  Heaven's  approving  sight ; 
The  smile  of  God  is  Victory." 

Severity  of  punishments  inflicted  on  slaves  short  of 
death,  were  often  a  thousand  times  more  cruel  than 
death  by  the  halter  ;  not  unfrequently  terminating  in 
death,  though  only  by  whipping.  But  hanging  was 
not  always  severe  enough,  as  witness  a  law  of  Mary 
land,  enacted  in  1729  :  "  The  slave  shall  first  have  the 


64  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

right  hand  cut  off,  then  be  hanged  in  the  usual  man 
ner  ;  the  head  be  severed  from  the  body,  the  body 
divided  into  four  quarters,  and  the  head  and  quarters 
be  set-up  in  the  most  public  places  of  the  county  where 
such  act  was  committed."  And  this  horrible  bar 
barity  could  be  inflicted  by  a  simple  justice's  court. 

But  it  may  be  said  this  legislation  was  before  the 
foundations  of  this  republic  were  laid.  That  is  true. 
But  in  the  year  1836,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
an  act  was  perpetrated,  of  which  the  following  was  the 
accepted  newspaper  account,  on  the  spot  and  over  the 
country  : 

On  the  28th  of  April,  1836,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
a  black  man  named  Mclntosh,  who  had  stabbed  an 
officer  who  had  arrested  him,  was  seized  by  the  mul 
titude,  fastened  to  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  city,  wood 
piled  around  him,  in  open  day,  and  in  the  presence  of 
an  immense  throng  of  citizens,  he  was  burned  to 
death.  The  Alton  Telegraph  thus  describes  a  part  of 
the  scene  : 

All  was  silent  as  death  while  the  executioners  were 
piling  the  wood  around  the  victim.  He  said  not  a 
word  till  he  felt  that  the  flames  had  seized  him.  He 
then  uttered  an  awful  howl,  attempting  to  sing  and 
pray,  then  hung  his  head  and  suffered  in  silence. 
After  the  flames  had  surrounded  their  prey,  his  eyes 
burned  out  of  his  head,  and  his  mouth  apparently 
parched  to  a  "cinder,  some  one  in  the  crowd  more  com 
passionate  than  the  rest,  proposed  to  end  his  misery 
by  shooting  him.  But  it  was  replied  that  he  was 
already  out  of  his  pain.  "  No,  no,"  cried  the  wretch, 
"  I  am  not.  I  am  suffering  as  much  as  ever.  Shoot 
me  !  Shoot  me  !"  "  No,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  fiends 
standing  by  the  roasting  sacrifice,  "  no,  he  shall  not  be 
shot.  I  would  sooner  slack  the  fire  if  that  would 
increase  his  misery  !" 

A  St.  Louis  correspondent  of  a  New  York  paper 
sent  an  account  of  the  diabolical  deed,  of  which  this 
is  an  excerpt : 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  65 

The  shrieks  and  groans  of  the  victim  were  loud  and 
piercing,  and  to  observe  one  limb  after  another  drop 
into  the  fire,  was  awful  indeed.  In  dying,  he  was 
about  fifteen  minutes.  I  visited  the  place  this  morn 
ing  and  saw  the  body,  or  the  remains  of  it,  burned 
to  a  crump.  The  legs  and  arms  were  gone,  and  only 
a  part  of  the  head  and  body  was  remaining. 

A  subsequent  judicial  decision  by  judge  Luke  E. 
Lawless,  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Missouri,  made  at  a 
session  of  court  in  St.  Louis,  was,  that  as  the  burning 
of  Mclntosh  was  the  act,  directly  or  indirectly,  by 
countenance  of  a  majority  of  the  citizens,  it  is  a  case 
which  transcends  the  jurisdiction  of  the  grand  jury  ! 

And  so  the  dreadful  sacrament  was  sanctified  and 
solemnized  by  high  judicial  decision.  And  as  such 
atrocities  were  common  while  slavery  lasted,  why  need 
the  law  of  Maryland  be  shorn  of  its  odium  and  terror 
in  the  popular  apprehension,  only  because  it  was 
older  than  -the  Declaration  of  American  Indepen 
dence  ? 

Assuming  that  nations  are  not  better  than  their 
laws,  or  that  laws  are  never  made  till  needed,  what 
shall  be  said  of  legislation  like  this  ?  A  law  of  North 
Carolina  provided  that  : 

If  any  person  shall  wilfully  kill  his  own  slave,  or 
of  any  other  person,  every  such  offender  shall,  on  con 
viction,  forfeit  and  pay  the  sum  of  seven  hundred 
pounds,  and  shall  forever  be  rendered  incapable  of 
holding  or  exercising  any  office. 

And  this  law  was  not  repealed  till  the  year  1821,  if 
ever.  Another  section  of  the  same  act  provided  : 

If  any  person  shall,  in  sudden  heat  of  passion,  or 
by  undue  correction,  kill  his  own  slave,  or  the  slave  of 
any  other  person,  he  shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

A  still  further  provision  of  the  same  act  read  thus  : 

If  any  person  shall  wilfully  cut  out  the  tongue,  put 
out  the  eye,  castrate,  or  cruelly  scald  or  burn  any 


66  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

slave,  or  deprive  any  slave  of  any  limb  or  member,  or 
shall  inflict  any  other  cruel  punishment,  other  than 
by  whipping  or  beating  with  a  switch,  horse-whip  or 
cow-skin,  or  by  putting  on  irons,  or  imprisoning  such 
slave,  such  person,  for  every  such  offence,  shall  forfeit 
and  pay  one  hundred  pounds. 

Judge  Stroud,  in  his  carefully  prepared  "  Sketch  of 
Laws  Relating  to  Slavery,"  says  in  his  latest  edition, 
(1856)  :  "This,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  has  been  suf 
fered  to  disgrace  the  statute  book  to  the  present  hour. 
Amid  all  the  mutations  which  Christianity  has  effected 
within  the  last  century,  she  has  not  been  able  to  con 
quer  the  spirit  which  dictated  this  law." 

And  not  to  speak  of  the  shameful  outrage,  so 
denounced  in  Deuteronomy,  xxiii  ;  ist,  what  must 
be  thought  of  the  decency,  humanity,  not  to  say 
religion,  of  a  people  that  enacts,  supports,  sanctifies  a 
law  which  beats  without  limit,  without  mercy,  with 
horse- whip,  cowskin  or  other  missile,  a  human  being, 
man,  woman,  child,  unrebuked,  unless  the  last  stroke 
should  produce  immediate  death  ? 

With  one  more  well  authenticated  fact  and  one 
other  witness,  and  he  none  other  than  Thomas  Jeffer 
son  himself,  the  question  as  to  the  character  of  slavery 
shall  be  submitted  to  readers,  to  history,  to  posterity. 
The  outrage  to  be  described  was  witnessed  by  John 
James  Appleton,  Esq.,  whom  Hon.  David  Lee  Child 
and  his  illustrious  wife,  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child, 
endorse  as  "a  gentleman  of  high  attainments  and 
accomplishments,"  a  secretary  of  legation  at  Rio 
Janeiro,  Madrid  and  the  Hague,  commissioner  at 
Naples  and  charge  d'affaires  at  Stockholm.  Mr. 
Appleton  was  present  at  the  burial  of  a  female  slave 
in  Mississippi,  who  had  been  whipped  to  death  by  her 
master,  for  being  gone  longer  on  an  errand  than  was 
thought  necessary.  She  protested  under  the  terrible 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  67 

torture  that  she  was  ill  and  had  to  rest  in  the  fields. 
To  complete  the  climax  of  horror,  she  was  delivered 
of  a  dead  child  while  undergoing  the  punishment!!  Is 
it  strange  that  she  had  to  rest  by  the  way  ?  But  we 
will  hasten  to  our  last  witness. 

To-day  as  I  write,  the  Democratic  party,  party  of 
Thomas  Je,fferson,  is  celebrating  here  in  Massachu 
setts,  a  political  success,  almost  unexampled  under  the 
circumstances,  in  state  elections,  since  the  party  was 
first  inaugurated.  The  tribes  of  Israel  never  claimed 
Abraham  as  their  father  with  more  devout  pride  and 
filial  reverence,  than  have  the  Democrats  of  this  nation 
Thomas  Jefferson  as  theirs,  since  their  party  first 
learned  to  lisp  his  name. 

And  those  tribes  crying,  "  Crucify  Him,  crucify 
Him,"  in  the  court-room  of  Pilate,  or  mocking  their 
victim  as  he  climbed  Mount  Calvary,  bearing  his  cross 
in  sweating  agony,  did  not  more  dishonor  their  patri 
archal  father  and  founder  than  did  the  Democratic 
party  and  their  Whig  accomplices  on  the  plains  of 
Texas,  murdering  the  Mexicans  in  a  bloody  war  to 
reinstate  slavery  where  the  Mexican  government,  with 
its  Roman  Catholic  religion,  had  not  many  years 
before,  abolished  it,  as  all  humanity  hoped,  forever. 
That  was  almost  forty  years  ago.  Undoubtedly,  devo 
tion  to  slavery  sent  the  old  Whig  party  to  a  scarcely 
too  early  grave.  Worship  of  the  same  unclean  and 
bloody  Moloch,  stove  down  democratic  rule,  from  the 
kindled  wrath  of  the  Infinite  Justice  around  Fort 
Sumter,  until  the  victories  won  yesterday  in  so  many 
States  of  this  Union,  and  proudly  celebrated  to-day, 
give  sign  almost  unmistakable,  of  its  probable  return 
at  the  next  presidential  election. 

And  now  the  next  and  last  witness  as  to  the  whole 
quality  and  character  of  slavery,  even  as  he  saw  it 


68  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

and  himself  embraced  it,  is  the  patriarchal  American 
Democrat,  Thomas  Jefferson  himself. 

His  memorable  "  Notes  on  the  State  of  Virginia," 
so  often  cited  in  the  past,  so  greatly  disregarded 
while  slavery  continued,  were  revised  and  published 
in  1787,  when  the  problem  of  slavery  was  shaking  the 
new  republic  to  its  foundation. 

The  section  relating  to  slavery  contains  so  many 
general  observations  on  human  relations  and  obliga 
tions,  individual  as  well  as  collective,  social  as^vell  as 
civil  and  governmental,  with  a  profoundly  reverent 
recognition  of  higher  authority  than  any  man-made 
institutions,  or  constitutions,  that  it  surely  is  not  too 
much  to  declare  that  a  return  of  the  Democratic  party 
to  power  will  be  a  blessing  or  scourge  and  curse, 
exactly  in  proportion  as  it  shall  follow,  or  reject  the 
doctrines  and  counsels  of  its  justly  venerated  founder 
and  progenitor,  as  laid  down  in  the  passage  from  his 
"  Notes  on  the  State  of  Virginia,"  here  reproduced  : 

There  must  doubtless  be  an  unhappy  influence  on 
the  manners  of  our  people,  produced  by  the  existence 
of  Slavery  among  us.  The  whole  commerce  between 
master  and  slave  is  a  perpetual  exercise  of  the  most 
boisterous  passions,  the  most  unremitting  despotism  on 
the  one  part,  and  degrading  submission  on  the  other. 
Our  children  see  this  and  learn  to  imitate  it  ;  for  man 
is  an  imitative  animal.  This  quality  in  him  is  the 
germ  of  all  education.  From  his  cradle  to  his  grave, 
he  is  learning  to  do  what  he  sees  others  do.  If  a 
parent  could  find  no  motive,  either  in  his  philanthropy 
or  his  self-love,  for  restraining  the  intemperance  of 
passion  toward  his  slave,  it  should  always  be  a  suffi 
cient  one  that  his  child  is  present.  But  generally  it 
is  not  sufficient.  The  parent  storms,  the  child  looks 
on,  catches  the  lineaments  of  wrath,  puts  on  the  same 
airs  in  the  circle  of  smaller  slaves,  gives  a  loose  to  the 
worst  of  passions,  and  thus  nursed  and  educated,  and 
daily  exercised  in  tyranny,  cannot  but  be  stamped  by 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  69 

it  with  odious  peculiarities.  The  man  must  be  a 
prodigy  who  can  retain  his  manners  and  morals  unde- 
praved  by  such  circumstances. 

And  with  what  execration  should  the  statesman  be 
loaded,  who,  permitting  one-half  the  citizens  thus  to 
trample  on  the  rights  of  the  other,  transforms  those 
into  despots,  and  these  into  enemies,  destroys  the 
morals  of  one  part  and  the  amor  patrice  of  the  other  ! 
For  if  a  slave  can-  have  a  country  in  this  world,  it 
must  be  any  other  in  preference  to  that  in  which  he  is 
born  to  live  and  labor  for  another  ;  in  which  he  must 
lock  up  the  faculties  of  his  nature  ;  contribute,  as  far 
as  depends  on  his  individual  endeavors,  to  the  evan- 
ishment  of  the  human  race,  or  entail  his  own  miser 
able  condition  on  the  endless  generations  proceeding 
from  him. 

With  the  morals  of  the  people,  their  industry  also  is 
destroyed.  For  in  a  warm  climate  no  man  will  labor 
for  himself  who  can  make  another  labor  for  him.  This 
is  so  true,  that  of  the  proprietors  of  slaves,  a  very 
small  proportion  indeed  are  ever  seen  to  labor.  And 
can  the  liberties  of  a  nation  be  thought  secure  when 
we  have  removed  their  only  firm  basis — a  conviction 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  these  liberties  are  the 
gift  of  God  ?  That  they  are  not  to  be  violated  but 
with  his  wrath  ?  Indeed,  I  tremble  for  my  country 
when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just :  that  his  justice  can 
not  sleep  torever  :  that  considering  numbers,  and 
natural  means  only,  a  revolution  of  the  wheel  of  For 
tune,  an  exchange  of  situation  is  among  possible 
events  :  that  it  may  becoiqe  probable  by  supernatural 
interference  !  The  Almighty  has  no  attribute  which 
can  take  sides  with  us  in  such  a  contest  !  But  it  is 
impossible  to  be  temperate  and  pursue  this  subject 
through  the  various  considerations  of  policy,  of  mor 
als,  of  history,  natural  and  civil.  We  must  be  con 
tented  to  hope  they  will  force  their  way  into  every 
mind.  I  think  a  change  already  perceptible  since  the 
origin  of  the  present  revolution.  The  spirit  of  the 
master  is  abating  ;  that  of  the  slave  rising  from  the 
dust  ;  his  condition  molifying  ;  the  way  I  hope  pre 
paring,  under  the  auspices  of  heaven,  for  a  total 


70  SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS. 

emancipation.  And  that  this  is  disposed,  in  the  order 
of  events,  to  be  with  the  con§ent  of  the  masters, 
rather  than  by  their  extirpation. 

Such  was  American  slavery.  Jefferson  proved  its 
historian  as  well  as  prophet,  to  wondrous  extent. 
Happy  for  the  nation,  had  it  heeded  his  wise  and 
timely  counsels.  Happy  for  it  would  it  even  now 
learn  to  regard  them. 

When,  before  or  since  our  slave  system,  did  govern 
ments  ever  punish  with  death  for  seventy  offences, 
and  then  forbid,  under  penalties  almost  as  severe  as 
death,  to  teach  one  of  the  victims  of  such  tyranny  to 
read  one  law  of  man  or  God,  in  any  book,  the  Bible 
not  excepted  ?  It  may  have  been.  But  when,  or  where  ? 
What  but  cold-blooded  murder  must  such  governing 
have  been  !  To  rid  the  land  of  such  a  plague,  no 
wonder  it  required  an  army  on  our  side  only,  of  more 
than  two  million  seven  hundred  thousand  men,  half  a 
million  of  whom  never  returned  !  And  then,  as  a 
crowning,  sealing  sacrifice,  an  idolized  president  mas 
sacred,  murdered,  and  his  tall  form  stretched  across 
their  premature  graves,  while  not  this  nation  only,  but 
foreign  peoples  stood  aghast!  All  this,  not  to  speak 
of  moneyed  cost  and  loss  ;  nor  counting  the  sighs 
and  tears,  bereavements  and  mournings  of  mothers, 
sisters,  widows  and  orphans  !  All  this,  not  reckoning 
moral  and  spiritual,  as  well  as  financial  impoverish 
ment  and  desolation,  not  to  be  restored  perhaps  till 
our  third  and  fourth  generations  !  Such  was  part  of 
the  price  paid  to  redeem  the  land  from  its  uncommon 
curse.  Men  called  the  war  of  sword  and  bayonet, 
Rebellion.  It  might  have  been  rebellion  on  the  part 
of  slavery  and  the  South.  But  to  the  North  it  was 
Retribution.  The  South  claimed  as  property,  the 
slave.  But  the  North,  by  the  terms  of  the  Federal 


SLAVERY AS    IT    WAS.  71 

Union,  held  him  pinned  down  to  the  earth  as  with 
the  point  of  the  bayonet.  From  the  torture-chambers 
of  the  imprisoned  slave  our  guilt  ascended,  by  silent 
but  sure  evaporation,  until  it  hung  in  threatening 
clouds  over  all  the  sky,  waiting  the  dread  hour  when 
the  Infinite  Patience  could  endure  it  no  longer  ! 

At  last  the  command  was  given,  and  the  tempest 
and  thunder  shook  the  very  heavens,  saying  to  the 
North,  "Give  up  ;"  to  the  South,  "  Keep  not  back." 
No  lightning-rod  shielded  either  ;  and  Slavery,  with 
all  its  reeking,  shrieking  altars,  and  ghastly  parapher 
nalia  of  whips,  fetters,  blood-hounds  and  red-hot 
branding-irons,  was  swept  away  in  cataclysms  of  blood 
and  fire  ! 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ANTI-SLAVERY  —  WHAT    IT   WAS   NOT, 
AND    WHAT    IT   WAS. 

Such  account  could  slavery  give  of  itself,  "  Peculiar 
Institution  "  it  was  often  called.  But  it  was  not  pecul 
iar  to  the  southern  states.  Fortunes  were  made  by  the 
African  slave  trade,  even  in  little  Rhode  Island.  The 
history  of  slavery  and  slave  trading  in  Massachusetts 
is  one  of  the  most  surprising  volumes  ever  issued  by 
the  American  press.  New  Hampshire  held  slaves. 
General  Washington  himself,  while  President  of  the 
United  States,  hunted  a  slave  woman  and  her  child 
all  the  wav  into  that  then  remote  state.  Vermont,  had 
a  fugitive  slave  case  in  1808.  But  the  brave  Judge 
Harrington  stunned  the  remorseless  claimant  with  his 
decision  that  "  nothing  Tess  than  a  bill  of  sale  from  the 
Almighty  could  establish  ownership  "  in  his  victim. 
And  he,  too,  returned  home  despoiled  and  shamed. 

Slavery  was  the  sin  and  crime  of.  north  as  well  as 
south.  It  was  sustained  by  the  government,  it  was 
sanctified  by  almost  the  whole  religion  of  the  nation. 
I  have  read  that  even  the  Quakers  gravely  considered 
the  question,  not  whether  it  was  right  to  hold  slaves, 
but  whether  it- was  proper  to  brand  them  with  red  hot 
marking  irons.  To  the  credit  of  that  sect,  however, 
it  should  be  told  that  it  was  among  the  first,  if  not  the 
very  first,  to  cast  the  accursed  thing  forever  out  of 
its  fellowship. 

Three  clauses  in  the  federal  constitution  were  so 
interpreted  as  to  brand  the  whole  nation  as  slave 
holders,  slave-hunters  and  slave-traders  ;  and  one  of 


ANTI-SLAVERY WHAT    IT    WAS    NOT,    ETC.  73 

those  clauses  was  in  two  words,  "  suppress  insur 
rections."  And  another  was  in  this  apparently  inno 
cent,  inoffensive  period  : 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state 
under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall, 
in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be 
discharged  from  such  service  or  labor  ;  but  shall  be 
delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such 
service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

And  under  that  guarantee,  which,  as  president,  he 
was  solemnly  sworn  to  execute,  did  George  Washing 
ton  himself  pursue  a  slave  mother  and  her  child  from 
the  Potomac  to  the  Piscatauqua  as  remorselessly  as 
though  they  had  been  a  sheep  and  her  lamb.  For 
tunately,  however,  for  the  victims,  they  escaped  and 
lived  and  died  in  the  old  Granite  State. 

Our  African  slave  trade  was  a  piracy  that  paled  all 
ordinary  buccaneering  into  innocence.  That  traffic, 
with  all  its  nameless  terrors  and  tortures,  was  secured 
to  the  United  States  and  positively  protected  by  this 
specious  and  apparently  inoffensive  phrase  in  the 
ninth  section  of  Article  I  in  the  federal  consti 
tution  : 

The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as 
any  of  the  states  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to 
admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to 
the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a 
tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importations, 
not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person. 

And  Mr.  Madison,  afterwards  president,  declared, 
and  it  is  part  of  our  history,  that  "the  southern  states 
would  not  have  entered  the  union  without  the  tem 
porary  permission  of  that  trade." 

The  first  fugitive  slave  law  was  enacted  in  1793. 
But  as  anti-slavery  sentiment  increased,  through  the 
faithful  and  persistent  labors  of  the  uncompromising 
Abolitionists,  "  underground  railroads,"  as  they 

6 


74  ANTI-SLAVERY WHAT    IT    WAS    NOT, 

were  called,  multiplied,  and  Judge  Harrington's- 
decisions  became  more  frequent.  ^  Underground  rail 
roads  were  only  lines  of  travel  through  the  northern 
states  to  Canada,  over  which,  under  cover  of  night,. 
great  numbers  of  slaves  were  conveyed,  sometimes 
in  whole  families;  one  anti-slavery  man  hurrying  them: 
from  his  town  to  the  next,  or  farther,  if  necessary,  and 
then  another  taking  them  in  charge,  and  so  on  till 
they  were  safely  landed  in  Canada,  beyond  reach  of 
further  pursuit  or  danger.  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  " 
has  no  more  interesting  chapter  than  that  in  which 
''Senator  Bird's"  adventure  is  described  with  his 
night  express  train  over  that  memorable  but  dark  and 
dangerous  highway  out  of  democratic  despotism  to 
freedom  in  a  land  of  kings  and  queens.  And  large 
numbers  escaped  with  greater  security,  as  their  friends 
multiplied  along  the  way,  by  their  own  unaided 
efforts. 

So  another  and  severer  fugitive  law  was  demanded, 
and  in  1850  enacted.  That  law,  in  the  first  place, 
made  every  inch  of  our  country,  and  the  deck  of 
every  vessel,  on  sea,  lake  or  river,  hunting  ground  for 
slave-holder  and  kidnapper.  And  whoever  refused 
to  aid  in  the  bloody,  brutal  business  of  chasing, 
seizing  and  holding  the  human  prey,  when  called  into- 
the  service,  or  harbored  or  concealed  the  victims  so 
that  they  escaped,  was  punished  "  by  fine  not  exceed 
ing  six  thousand  dollars,  and  imprisonment  not  exceed 
ing  six  months."  And,  moreover,  could  be  then  held 
in  an  action  for  damages  to  the  slave  claimant,  for 
one  thousand  dollars  for  every  slave  lost  through 
refusal  to  obey  that  most  shameful  as  well  as  unright 
eous  and  inhuman  edict.  And  many  of  the  best 
families  in  the  land  were  beggared  only  for  religiously 
observing  the  Golden  Rule  and  remembering  and 


AND    WHAT    IT    WAS,  75 

regarding  them  who  were  in  bonds  as  bound  with 
them.  •  . 

As  early  as  the  year  1840,  efforts  began  to  be  made 
by  some  anti-slavery  men,  who  had  faith  or  hope 
in  political  action  against  slavery,  to  change  the  inter 
pretations  of  the  constitution  and  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  so  as  to  make  not  only  the  clauses  just 
now  cited,  but  the  whole  instrument  a  proclamation 
and  protection  of  universal  liberty.  Foremost  among 
these  men  was  Mr.  Gerrit  Smith,  of  New  York.  A 
third  political  party  was  inaugurated,  and  James  G. 
Birney,  whose  name  has  already  had  honorable  men 
tion  in  these  pages,  was  the  first  nominated  anti- 
slavery  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  whose  first 
anti-slavery  works,  as  a  repentant  slave-holder,  entitled 
him  to  such  distinction.  But  his  name  was  with 
drawn  after  his  first  vote  was  given  in  1844,  and  John 
P.  Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  succeeded  him.  He  also 
was  superseded  in  the  candidacy  for  one  who 
undoubtedly  might  control  a  larger  vote,  Martin  Van 
Buren,  but  whose  anti-slavery  reputation  was  surely 
of  most  questionable  character.  But  the  popular 
sentiment,  press,  pulpit,  everything,  everywhere  pre 
vailed  over  all  such  innovation  till  the  election  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  who  in  his  inaugural  address  on 
March  4th,  1861,  declared  for  slave-holding  and 
slave-hunting  in  these  strange,  but  surely  ever  memor 
able  words  : 

I  understand  a  proposed  amendment,  which  amend 
ment  I  have  not  seen,  has  passed  Congress,  to  the 
effect  that  the  federal  government  shall  never  inter 
fere  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  states, 
including  that  of  persons  held  to  service.  To  avoid 
misconstruction  of  what  I  have  said,  I  now  depart 
from  my  purpose  not  to  speak  of  particular  amend 
ments,  so  far  as  to  say,  that  holding  such  a  provision 


76  ANTI-SLAVERY WHAT    IT    WAS    NOT, 

to  be  now  implied  constitutional  law,  I  have  no 
objection  to  its  being  made  express  and  irrevocable. 

Mark  the  words,  "express  and  irrevocable." 
Express  :  not  implied  ;  not  doubtful.  Irrevocable  : 
not  to  be  revoked  ;  more  than  statute  of  Medes  and 
Persians. 

Thus  to  slave-breeding  as  well  as  slave-working  ; 
to  slave-buying,  selling,  holding  and  hunting,  was  the 
whole  nation  and  government  committed  under  the 
presidency,  not  of  a  southern,  but  a  northern  man  ; 
not  of  the  Democratic,  but  the  Republican  party,  and, 
as  was  claimed,  the  very  best  of  that  party.  And  the 
whole  national  domain  was  made  human  hunting 
ground,  from  Plymouth  Rock  and  Bunker  Hill,  to  the 
wilds  of  Alaska,  and  the  Golden  Gate.  And  by  the 
fugitive  slave  law,  every  man  and  woman  was  held  to 
the  bloodhound  business  of  hunting  slaves,  when 
required  by  the  officers,  under  heavy  fines  and  cruel 
imprisonments.  Such,  in  the  Christian  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-one,  was  the 
culmination  of  all  anti-slavery  political  parties. 

The  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  had  also  a 
constitution.  Its  declared  aim  was,  "  to  convince  all 
our  fellow-citizens,  by  arguments  addressed  to  the 
understanding  and  conscience,  that  slave-holding  is  a 
heinous  crime  in  the  sight  of  God  ;  and  that  the  duty, 
safety  and  best  interests  of  all  concerned,  require  its 
immediate  abandonment,  without  expatriation." 
Another  declaration  was  this :  "  The  society  will 
never  in  any  way  countenance  the  oppressed  in 
vindicating  their  rights  by  resorting  to  physical  force." 

A  declaration  of  sentiment,  issued  at  the  inaugura 
tion  of  the  society,  spoke  thus  : 

Our  trust  for  victory  is  solely  in  God.  We  may  be 
personally  defeated,  but  our  principles  never.  Truth, 
justice,  reason,  humanity,  must  and  will  gloriously 


AND    WHAT    IT    WAS.  77 

triumph.       *  *       We  shall  send  forth  agents 

to  lift  up  the  voice  of  remonstrance  and  warning. 
We  shall  circulate  unsparingly,  anti-slavery  tracts  and 
periodicals.  We  shall  enlist  the  pulpit  and  the  press. 

And  faithfully,  consistently,  persistently,  without 
concealment,  without  compromise,  did  the  true  aboli 
tionists  continue  so  to  act  to  the  end.  In  an 
enterprise  solely  moral  and  religious,  as  well  as 
philanthropic,  the  first,  most  earnest  appeal  was  to  the 
church  and  pulpit.  A  more  devoutly  religious  man 
than  was  Mr.  Garrison  at  the  outset,  or  more  soundly 
orthodox  and  evangelical  in  sentiment,  could  not  be 
found.  That  has  already  been  sufficiently  shown. 
And  his  strongest,  kindest,  most  affectionate  appeals 
in  behalf  of  the  enslaved  were  first  made  to  the 
ministers  and  churches  of  Boston,  the  then  venerable 
Dr.  Beecher  being  most  eminent  among  them. 

I  was  a  very  humble  unordained  minister  in  a  little 
New  Hampshire  town,  where  I  was  preaching  as  a 
candidate  for  settlement,  when  my  first  official  testi 
mony  was  asked  and  cheerfully  given  in  relation  to 
the  crime  and  curse  of  slavery.  The  county  anti- 
slavery  society  where  I  was,  issued,  through  a  com 
mittee  whose  chairman  was  the  afterwards  well  and 
widely  known  Stephen  S.  Foster,  a  Circular  to  all  the 
ministers  of  the  county,  respectfully  asking  their 
several  answers  to  the  following  questions,  relative  to 
the  duty  of  the  church  and  clergy  of  the  country  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  : 

1.  Do  you,  or  do  you  not  believe  that  a  man's  right 
to    liberty    is    derived    from   God,    and    is    therefore 
inalienable  ? 

2.  Do  you   regard  slave-holding,  under  all  circum 
stances,  as  a  sin  against  God,  and  an  immorality  ? 

3.  Do  you  approve  and  support  the  principles  and/ 
measures   of  the   American  Anti-Slavery  Society  and 
kindred  organizations  ? 


7  8  ANTI-SLAVERY WHAT    IT    WAS    NOT, 

4.  Do  you  allow    the    claims    of   the   Anti-Slavery 
Society  the  same  prominence  in  the  pulpit  exercises 
of  the  Sabbath  as  those  of  other  benevolent  institu 
tions  ? 

5.  Are  the   slave-owners  excluded    from  the   com 
munion    of   the  church   to    which   you   minister,  and 
slave-owning  ministers  from  the  pulpit  ? 

6.  Are  you  in   favor   of  withdrawing  all   Christian 
fellowship  from  slave-owners  ? 

7.  Are  you  in  favor  of  supporting  such  benevolent 
institutions   as   admit   slave-owners    to    participate  in 
their  management,   and   knowingly  receive  into  their 
treasuries  the  avails  of  the  unrequited  toil  of  the  slave, 
and  the  human-flesh  auctions  of  the  south  ? 

Readers,  young  and  old,  can  see  by  these  crucial 
questions  what  stern  demands  were  made  on  the  abo 
litionists  at  that  day,  who  would  keep  their  hands 
clean,  their  garments  unspotted  from  the  guilt  of 
slavery,  whose  victims  then  numbered  two  and  a  half 
millions. 

Many  ministers,  to  whom  the  letter  of  inquiry  was 
sent,  paid  no  attention  to  it.  Some  answered  cau 
tiously  and  prudently,  having  in  their  churches  and  soci 
eties  influential  men  whose  political  party  ties,  if  not 
their  own  personal  opinions,  bound  them  as  with  iron 
bands,  to  the  accursed  institution.  A  very  few  ven 
tured  as  far  in  testimony  or  protest  against  the  system 
as  possible  without  periling  their  denominational 
position  and  fellowship.  Perhaps  the  only  satisfac 
tory  response  in  all  respects  to  the  questions  pro 
pounded,  was  in  part  as  given  below  : 

Your  sixth  question  is:  "Are  you  in  favor  of 
withdrawing  all  Christian  fellowship  from  slave 
owners  ?" 

A  step  so  important  as  this  should  not  be  rashly 
taken.  *  *  *  And  yet  to  those  who  would  be  sep 
arate  from  all  sin,  who  would  "  have  no  fellowship 
with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,"  what  question 


AND    WHAT    IT    WAS.  79 

could  be  of  easier  solution  ?  With  those  fell  demons 
of  darkness,  whose  awful  cruelties  are  equalled  only  by 
their  shameless  and  unblushing  licentiousness,  none 
should  expect  me  to  hold  "Christian  fellowship."  But 
shall  I  with  the  more  humane  and  outwardly  moral  ? 
For  my  part,  I  can  conceive  of  no  possible  circum 
stances  where  one  person  can  claim  property  in 
another,  under  our  slave  system,  without  being  guilty 
of  iniquity  and  oppression,  and  of  giving  countenance 
and  sanction  to  whatever  abuses  may  result  from  that 
system.  I  might  own  a  slave,  and  so  far  as  simple 
treatment  is  concerned,  do  him  no  injustice.  I  might 
feed,  blanket,  bed  and  house  him  as  tenderly  as  I  do 
my  horse.  I  might  give  him  mental  and  moral  instruc 
tion  so  far  as  the  laws  regulating  slavery  allowed  ; 
and,  were  it  possible,  make  him  as  happy  as  the  angels 
before  the  heavenly  throne.  *  *  *  But  what  then? 
If  I  own  him  under  the  slave  system  of  this  nation,  I 
lend  my  influence,  countenance,  sanction  and  sancti- 
fication  to  all  the  atrocities  connected  with  that  sys 
tem.  Not  one  pain  nor  pang  could  be  inflicted  on  the 
tortured  slave,  by  cart-whip  or  cat-hauling  ;  the  poison 
tooth  of  blood-hound,  the  murderous  rifle-bullet,  or 
red  hot  branding-iron,  or  the  soul-crushing  agonies  of 
the  mother  torn  from  her  helpless  babes  and  sold  on 
the  auction  block,  forever  from  their  sight,  not  one 
of  these,  nor  any  other  of  the  nameless  and  horrible 
outrages  and  cruelties  of  the  accursed  plague,  might 
not  be  justly  chargeable  to  my  account  !  My  very 
virtues  as  a  slave-holder  might  do  more  to  perpetuate 
the  system  than  all  the  vices  which  cluster  around 
it,  till  I  might  indeed  be  the  most  wicked  slave-holder 
in  the  land.  What  better  palliation  could  the  average 
slave-holder  plead  than  that  such  a  man  as  I  was  a 
breeder  and  holder  of  slaves  ?  *  •  *  *  '  In  my  own 
•opinion,  the  most  guilty  of  all  among  the  slave-holders 
are  those  whose  professions  are  loudest  and  strongest 
in  favor  of  morality  and  religion  ;  the  minister,  the 
elder,  the  deacon  and  private  member  of  the  church. 
Jn  one  word,  as  Judge  Birney,  a  ruling  elder  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  has  already  proclaimed  and 
proved  :  "  The  American  Churches  are  the  Bulwarks 


80  ANTI-SLAVERY WHAT    IT    WAS    NOT, 

of  American  Slavery."  Did  not  their  influence,  sanc 
tify  slavery,  its  own  odiousness  would  be  its  overthrow. 
And  must  I  commune  in  sacramental  fellowship  with 
those  who  of  all  others  are  guiltiest  in  relation  to  the 
most  daring  system  of  iniquity  that  ever  cursed  the 
earth  or  scourged  the  inhabitants  thereof  ?  O,  my 
soul,  come  not  thou  into  their  secret  ;  unto  their  assem 
bly,  mine  honor,  be  not  thou  uriited  ! 

To-day,  when  everyone  is,  or  would  be  thought  an 
abolitionist,  or  the  descendant  of  an  abolitionist,  such 
sentiments  seem  only  reasonable  and  right  ;  only  log 
ical  and  consistent  ;  slavery  being  everywhere  and 
always  a  heinous  sin  and  crime.  But  in  1840,  when 
slavery  had  yet  before  it  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century 
in  which  to  plague  us,  it  was  not  so.  Slave-holders 
were  welcomed  to  the  pulpits  and  sacramental  suppers 
of  the  churches  in  every  state  and  county,  if  not  in 
every  single  town,  where  churches  existed.  And  the 
faithful  and  devout  abolitionists,  however  evangelical 
in  sentiment,  were  as  universally  cast  out.  There 
were  exceptions,  but  so  rare  as  rather  to  affirm  and 
confirm  than  impeach  the  rule. 

And  the  political  test  of  the  time  was  not  less  stern 
and  severe.  The  great  political  parties  vied  with 
each  other  in  zeal  and  devotion  to  the  demands  of  the 
national  idol.  Louisiana  and  Florida  had  already 
been  purchased  by  the  government,  in  obedience  to 
its  behest,  though  in  avowed  violation  of  the  federal 
constitution.  All  the  Indian  tribes  in  the  southern 
seaboard  states  had  been  driven  from  their  homes, 
their  churches  and  school-houses,  their  printing  presses 
and  the  graves  of  their  ancestors,  with  unheard  of 
haste  and  cruelty,  that  their  coveted  lands  might  be 
seized  and  doomed  to  slave-holding,  the  Seminoles  in 
Florida  only  excepted.  And  General  Taylor,  with 
government  troops,  supplemented  by  imported  Cuban 


AND    WHAT    IT    WAS.  8l 

blood-hounds,  was  soon  to  complete  the  bloody  busi 
ness  by  exterminating  such  as  presumed  to  resist,  and 
capturing  and  banishing  the  rest  to  the  western  wilds, 
then  unexplored  and  almost  unknown.  Arrangements 
were  making,  secret  and  open,  to  seize  Texas  from 
Mexico,  at  whatever  cost  of  national  dishonor  and 
war,  to  reinstate  slavery,  which  Roman  Catholic  Mex 
ico  had  abolished  almost  twenty  years  before,  and 
then  annex  it  to  the  United  States.  Both  the  whig 
and  democratic  parties  were  emulating  each  other  in 
their  zeal  and  devotion  to  so  vile  an  object- by  such 
unhallowed  means.  And  so  the  anti-slavery  demand 
on  the  parties,  as  well  as  on  the  churches,  was  to  come 
out  of  them.  No  religious  or  theological  opinions 
were  questioned,  no  political  party  preferences,  were 
challenged,  Baptist,  Congregationalist,  Methodist  or 
Presbyterian  might  remain  true  to  their  chosen  creed, 
only  treat  slavery  in  the  church  as  other  robbery,  adul 
tery,  and  murder.  So  whig  and  democrat,  only  let 
the  equalty  of  all  men,  as  announced  in  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  be  solemnly  observed  and 
applied,  might  remain  whig  and  democrat  forever. 

For  themselves,  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society 
abolitionists,  at  their  national  anniversary  in  1844, 
adopted  the  resolution  below,  to  which  they  adhered 
till  the  slave-holders'  rebellion  made  sure  the  end  of 
slavery  : 

Resolved,  That  secession  from  the  present  United 
States  government  is  the  duty  of  every  abolitionist  ; 
since  no  one  can  take  office  or  cast  a  vote  for  another 
to  hold  office  under  the  United  States  constitution, 
without  violating  his  anti-slavery  principles,  and  ren 
dering  himself  an  abettor  of  the  slave-holder  in  his  sin. 

To  expect  to  find  editors,  missionaries  and  apostles 
able,  ready,  willing  to  adopt,  inculcate  and  defend  doc 
trines  and  measures  thus  uncompromising  and  extreme, 


82  ANTI-SLAVERY WHAT    IT    WAS    NOT, 

was  to  pay  high  compliment  to  human  nature,  courage 
and  character.  But  such  appeared,  both  women  and 
men.  Indeed,  long  before  this  time.,  the  slave  power 
had  revealed  itself  in  almost  every  possible  way,  both 
in  state  and  church,  as  ready  to  execute  terrible  ven 
geance  on  any  who  dared  refuse  quick  obedience  to 
its  behests,  or  even  to  question  its  right  to  reign 
supreme.  At  the  opening  of  the  anti-slavery  apoca 
lypse  by  Garrison  in  1830,  the  whole  nation — state, 
church,  government,  religion,  education,  trade,  com 
merce,— all  were  held  subservient  to  its  sovereign  will 
and  pleasure.  Every  conceivable  human  interest, 
nearly  every  distinguished  clergyman,  politician,  office- 
seeker  as  well  as  office-holder,  bowed  reverently  in 
our  temple  of  Moloch,  humbly  exclaiming,  "Not  my 
will,  but  thine  be  done."  Already  had  Garrison  been 
heavily  fined,  and  imprisoned  in  Baltimore,  only  for 
exposing  in  a  newspaper  an  atrocious  instance  of 
cruelty  in  our  coashvise  slave  trade.  In  Boston  he  had 
been  mobbed,  stripped  nearly  naked,  dragged  by  a 
rope  through  the  streets  till  rescued  by  the  authorities 
and  shut  in  the  strongest  jail,  to  save  his  imperilled 
life.  A  worthy  minister  in  New  Hampshire,  engaged  to 
give  an  anti-slavery  lecture,  was  arrested  as  a  "  com 
mon  brawler,"  jerked  from  his  knees  and  pulpit  to 
trial  as  he  was  offering  his  opening  prayer.  Churches, 
school-houses,  orphan  asylums  and  dwellings  of  colored 
people,  in  Providence,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and 
Cincinnati,  had  been  mobbed,  sacked,  burned  down  ; 
twelve  in  New  York  and  one  church  ;  more  than  forty 
in  Philadelphia  and  two  churches  ;  and  one  church 
and  many  dwellings  in  Cincinnati.  And  many  colored 
men  were  severely  injured  in  their  persons,  and  girls 
and  women  grossly  outraged  by  their  diabolical  assail 
ants.  So  were  they  hated  for  their  color  ;  and  because 


AND    WHAT    IT    WAS.  83 

millions  of  their  kindred  were  slaves  to  democratic, 
republican  and  Christian  masters.  Pennsylvania  Hall, 
in  Philadelphia,  was  erected  at  cost  of  forty  thousand 
dollars,  wholly  for  anti-slavery  and  other  philanthro- 
phic  purposes.  During  an  anti-slavery  convention,  in 
1838,  that  spacious  and  beautiful  structure  was 
mobbed,  set  on  fire,  and  burned  to  ashes,  with  all  its 
contents.  A  valuable  library  and  much  other  property 
were  consumed  in  the  flames.  Nor  did  the  city 
authorities,  from  mayor  and  aldermen  to  sheriff  and 
police,  utter  a  protest  ;  still  less  proffer  any  protection, 
or  word  of  sympathy  to  the  innocent  and  peaceful 
sufferers.  Rev.  Elijah  Parish  Lovejoy,  native  of 
Maine,  graduate  of  Waterville  College,  and  brother  of 
Owen  Lovejoy,  afterwards  member  of  Congress,  per 
ished  in  an  attempt  to  protect  his  press  and  printing 
office  from  the  fate  of  Pennsylvania  Hall.  It  was  in 
Alton,  Illinois,  north  of  St.  Louis,  on  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  that  the  most  heart-rending 
and  horrible  instance  of  burning  a  slave  to  death  over 
a  slow  fire  in  St.  Louis  in  the  year  1837,  had  just  been 
made  public,  as  has  been  already  described.  The 
St.  Louis  newspapers,  though  generally  approving  the 
devilish  deed,  stirred  the  civilized  world  with  their 
account  of  it.  Of  course  the  editorial  pen  of  Lovejoy 
was  hot  with  hallowed  fire  at  the  awful  recital.  His 
office  and  life  were  soon  threatened.  He  appealed  to 
the  authorities  for  protection.  He  might  as  well  have 
looked  to  the  murderers  of  the  poor  slave.  His 
friends  counselled  him  to  flee.  He  answered  :  "  I 
dare  not  flee  away  from  Alton.  The  crisis  has  come 
and  I  have  counted  the  cost.  Should  I  attempt  to 
flee  I  should  feel  that  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  was  pur 
suing  me  with  flaming  sword,  wherever  I  went.  And 
it  is  because  I  fear  God,  that  I  am  not  afraid  of  all 


84  ANTI-SLAVERY WHAT    IT    WAS    NOT,    ETC. 

who  oppose  me  in  this  wicked  city  !  "  This  was  the 
fourth  printing  press  he  had  set  up.  All  the  others 
had  been  ruthlessly  destroyed  by  the  same  mob  vio 
lence  that  now  assailed  this.  Refused  all  municipal 
protection,  he  and  a  few  brave  friends  entered  the 
building  alone.  They  fearlessly  faced  the  mob  till 
the  building  was  in  flames.  As  they  came  out,  Love- 
joy  received  five  bullets  and  fell  dead.  Three  of  the 
bullets  were  taken  out  of  his  breast.  He  was  but 
thirty-two  and  left  a  young  wife  and  babes.  When 
his  mother  read  the  account  of  his  death,  she  said  : 
"  It  is  well  ;  I  had  rather  he  died  defending  his  prin 
ciples,  than  that  he  should  have  forsaken  them  ! "  So 
it  became  all  who  entered  the  conflict  to  count  well 
the  cost. 


CHAPTER   V. 

ACTS   OF   THE    ANTI-SLAVERY   APOSTLES,    WITH    SOME 
PERSONAL   SKETCHES   AND   EXPERIENCES. 

My  first  intimate  acquaintance  and  companion  in 
travel  in  the  missionary  field,  was  Stephen  Symonds 
Foster.  To  him  was  largely  due  my  first  and  best 
lessons  in  anti-slavery  work.  My  preparation  for  the 
Congregational  Ministry  was  all  made  in  less  than 
four  years  from  the  reaper  and  the  plough.  The 
three  years  regular  theological  course  was  at  Oilman- 
ton,  New  Hampshire,  where  attempt  was  made  to 
stretch  the  charter  of  an  accademical  institution  to 
cover  an  entire  theological  department.  The  enter 
prise  failed,  though  in  those  years,  the  little,  remote 
hamlet  of  "  Gilmanton  Corner,"  aspired  and  strove 
hard  to  become  famous  as  the  seat  of  Gilmanton  Theo 
logical  Seminary.  I  was  first  to  enter  the  new  depart 
ment,  and  for  several  days  one  professor,  and  he  not 
inaugurated  nor  installed,  and  one  student,  were  all 
that  were  visible  of  that  "School  of  the  Prophets." 
But  during  my  three  years,  the  usual  three  regular 
classes  were  formed,  though  with  small  numbers,  and 
two  professors  were  elected  and  inaugurated.  Some 
good  and  useful  men  were  graduated,  but  in  a  few 
years,  "  Gilmanton  Theological  Seminary  "  ceased  to 
be,  and  was  known  no  more.  My  own  three  years' 
course  seemed  to  me  so  short,  preceded  as  it  had 
been  by  neither  collegiate  nor  academical  study,  that 
I  determined  on  a  year  at  Andover.  It  continued, 
however,  only  through  the  long  fall  and  winter  term  ; 


86  ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

and  then,  after  a  short  anti-slavery  traveling  agency, 
I  commenced  the  work  of  a  parish  minister  in  a  small 
New  Hampshire  town,  but  without  ordination.  My 
religious  sentiments  were  of  the  true  Gilmanton  and 
Andover  complexion.  The  creed  of  both  was  the 
same,  though  my  printed  copy  was  the  Andover,  a 
pamphlet  of  thirty  pages  octavo.  A  few  extracts  may 
be  interesting  to  readers  in  these  stirring  theological 
times  : 

Every  person  appointed  or  elected  a  professor  in 
this  seminary  shall,  on  the  day  of  his  inauguration  into 
office,  and  in  presence  of  the  trustees,  publicly  make 
and  subscribe  the  following  declarations  : 

I  believe  that  there  is  one,  and  but  one,  living  and 
true  God  ;  that  the  word  of  God  contained  in  the 
scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  is  the  only 
perfect  rule  of  faith  and  practice;  * 

that  in  the  Godhead  are  three  Persons  :  The  Father, 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  that  these  three  are  one 
God,  the  same  in  substance,  equal  in  power  and  glory  ; 
that  Adam,  the  federal  head  and  representative  of  the 
human  race,  was  placed  in  a  state  of  probation,  and 
that,  in  consequence  of  his  disobedience,  all  his 
descendants  were  constituted  sinners  ;  that  by  nature 
every  man  is  personally  depraved,  destitute  of  holi 
ness,  unlike,  and  opposed  to  God,  and  that  prev 
iously  to  the  renewing  agency  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  all 
his  moral  actions  are  adverse  to  the  character  of  God  ; 
that  being  morally  incapable  of  recovering  the  image 
of  his  Creator  which  was  lost  in  Adam,  every  man  is 
justly  exposed  to  eternal  damnation  ; 
that  God  of  his  mere  good  pleasure  elected  some  to 
everlasting  life  ;  and  that  he  entered  into  a  covenant 
of  grace  to  deliver  them  out  of  this  state  of  sin  and 
misery  by  a  Redeemer ;  that  the  only  Redeemer  of 
the  elect  is  the  eternal  Son  of  God  ; 
that  the  souls  of  believers  are  at  their  death  made 
perfect  in  holiness  and  do  immediately  pass  into 
glory  ;  that  their  bodies,  being  still  united  to  Christ, 
will  at  the  resurrection,  be  raised  up  to  glory  ;  and 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AND    EXPERIENCES.  87 

that  the  saints  will  be  made  perfectly  blessed  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  God  to  all  eternity  ;  but  that  the 
wicked  will  awake  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt, 
and  with  devils,  will  be  plunged  into  the  lake  that 
burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone  forever  and  ever. 
I  moreover  believe  that  God,  accord 
ing  to  the  counsel  of  His  own  will,  and  for  His  own 
glory,  hath  foreordained  whatsoever  comes  to  pass  ; 
*  that  God's  decrees  perfectly  consist 

with  human  liberty,  God's  universal  agency  with  the 
agency  of  man,  and  man's  dependence  with  his  ac 
countability.  And,  furthermore,  I 
do  solemnly  promise  that  I  will  open  and  explain  the 
Scriptures  to  my  pupils  with  integrity  and  faithfulness  ; 
that  I  will  maintain  and  inculcate  the  Christian  faith 
as  expressed  in  the  creed  by  me  now  repeated,  together 
with  all  the  other  doctrines  and  duties  of  our  holy  re 
ligion  so  far  as  may  appertain  to  my  office,  according 
to  the  best  light  God  shall  give  me  ;  and  in  opposition 
not  only  to  Atheists  and  Infidels,  but  to  Jews,  Mahom 
etans,  Arians,  Pelagians,  Antinomians,  Arminians, 
Socinians,  Unitarians  and  Universalists.  *  *  * 
The  preceding  declaration  shall  be  repeated  by  every 
professor  in  the  seminary,  in  the  presence  of  the  trus 
tees,  at  the  expiration  of  every  successive  period  of 
five  years  ;  and  no  man  shall  be  continued  as  presi 
dent  or  professor  in  this  institution  who  shall  not 
continue  to  approve  himself  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
trustees,  a  man  of  sound  and  orthodox  principles  in 
divinity,  agreeably  to  the  system  of  evangelical  doc 
trines  contained  in  the  said  Westminster  Shorter 
Catechism,  and  more  concisely  delineated  in  the  afore 
said  Creed. 

These  extracts  are  copied  from  the  Laws  of  the 
Theological  Institution  in  Andover,  printed  at  Andover 
by  Gould  &  Newman,  in  1837,  one  year  before  my 
entrance  there.  Nor  had  I  openly  dissented  from  any 
of  these  doctrines,  as  I  understood  them,  when  I  left 
the  Congregational  church  and  its  pulpit  for  the  divine 
ministry  of  freedom,  humanity  and  holiness. 


88  ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

My  anti-slavery  apostleship  commenced  as  a  life- 
work  in  New  Hampshire  in  1840.  In  that  year  was 
held  in  London  the  memorable  World's  anti-slavery 
convention,  made  memorable  most  of  all  by  its  rejec 
tion  of  several  American  commissioned  delegates,  one 
of  them  being  Mrs.  Lucretia  Mott,  because  they  were 
women.  "  British  usage,"  was  the  only  plea  in  justifi 
cation,  in  a  realm  that  had  had  women  at  the  head  of 
state  and  church,  parliament,  army,  navy,  the  whole 
nation,  many  times,  all  down  the  centuries  from  Boa- 
dicea  to  Queen  Victoria.  Mr.  Garrison,  of  the  Liber 
ator,  and  Mr.  Rogers,  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom,  on 
seeing  the  credentials  of  their  associate  delegates  thus 
dishonored,  retired  to  the  gallery  and  did  not  enroll 
themselves  as  members  of  the  convention  ;  a  course 
which  was  not  only  approved  but  admired  by  the  great 
body  of  their  constituents. 

My  first  work  as  an  agent  in  New  Hampshire  was  to 
conduct  the  Herald  of  Freedom  during  the  absence 
of  the  editor  abroad.  When  he  returned  to  his  edit 
orial  post  in  autumn  I  entered  the  lecturing  field,  with 
full  resolve  to  see  the  overthrow  of  the  Southern  slave 
system  or  perish  in  the  conflict.  The  doctrine  of  the 
American  society  was  moral,  peaceful,  religious  agita 
tion,  in  the  strain  of  the  poet  Whittier  : 

"  With  the  mild  arms  of  truth  and  love, 
Made  mighty  through  the  living  God.'' 

And  as  my  leaders  and  teachers,  Garrison  and  Rogers, 
relied  only  on  truth,  reason  and  argument  for  success, 
so  not  less  did  I.  My  first  lecturing  tour  was  in  north 
ern  New  Hampshire,  extending  to  but  few  towns  and 
occupying  only  a  few  days.  I  went  as  substitute  for 
Rev.  John  W.  Lewis,  a  very  large  and  unusually  black 
Baptist  minister  —  my  companion,  John  R.  French, 
afterward  printer  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom.  He  had 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AND    EXPERIENCES.  89 

been  advertised  in  the  Herald 'to  accompany  Mr.  Lewis, 
neither  of  them,  nor  myself  either,  ever  having  been 
in  that  part  of  the  State.  Sudden  illness  kept  Mr. 
Lewis  at  home,  and  I  was  deputed  by  the  Board  of 
Managers  his  substitute,  perhaps  as  near  to  a  colored 
man  as  could  then  conveniently  be  found.  This  cir 
cumstance  led  to  many  amusing  incidents,  as  most  of 
the  towns  we  visited  had  never  seen  any  person  of 
African  descent  ;  and  so  curiosity  to  see  a  specimen 
of  the  "  connecting  link  "  sometimes  added  many  to 
our  audiences.  Nor  did  we  always,  at  the  outset,  dis 
abuse  the  people,  and  more  than  once  I  was  introduced 
with  becoming  grace  as  "  Rev.  John  W.  Lewis,  who 
will  now  address  us."  In  one  instance,  we  .accompa 
nied  an  excellent  old  gentleman  home  to  tea,  be 
tween  our  afternoon  and  evening  meetings.  It  was 
quite  dark  when  we  arrived,  and  there  was  not  time 
for  ceremony  nor  explanation,  and  I  was  immediately 
introduced  as  Rev.  Mr.  Lewis,  and  my  companion  as 
"our  young  brother,  French."  We  had  reached  the 
tea-table  before  wre  revealed  our  secret.  The  only  un 
pleasant  circumstance  attending  was  that  it  was  then 
such  reproach,  almost  crime,  to  wear  a  colored  skin, 
that  the  family  felt  called  upon  to  make  to  me  humble 
apologies  for  the  affront,  if  not  outrage,  they  had  put 
upon  me.  But  I  justified  them  satisfactorily,  on  two 
or  three  grounds.  They  had  read  and  accepted  the 
advertisement  in  the  Herald ;  nor  had  we  explained 
to  the  contrary  ;  nor  was  my  own  color  really  so  light 
as  to  entitle  me  to  any  special  respect  on  its  account. 
"  No,"  said  the  good  old  man,  quite  earnestly,  "  nor  so 
dark  as  to  be  suspected  as  a  negro  ;  for  I  told  some 
of  my  friends  after  the  meeting  that  as  you  sat  there 
by  Nat  Allen,  while  brother  French  was  speaking,  I 
looked  at  you  both,  and  couldn't  see  but  that  Nat  was 
quite  as  black  as  you." 


90  ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

Had  I  been  Mr.  Lewis,  he  would  have  noted  a  dif 
ference,  as  he  was  one  of  the  tallest,  largest  and  dark 
est  of  his  race. 

Nat  Allen,  while  he  lived,  was  one  of  the  noblest, 
truest  of  the  anti-slavery  host  ;  and  as  good  at  home 
as  abroad.  A  humble,  hard-working  harness  maker,, 
and  poor  as  well  as  radical  and  outspoken,  he  was  still 
everywhere  respected.  I  drove  at  that  time  a  small 
but  very  pretty  nag  I  bought  of  my  father,  and  Mr. 
Rogers  had  loaned  me  an  old  wagon  and  harness,  the 
latter  much  too  large  for  my  little  mare.  This,  our 
faithful  friend  Allen  saw  ;  and  before  we  had  com 
pleted  our  work  in  Littleton  and  neighboring  towns, 
he  had  cut  out  and  made  a  handsome  harness  which 
exactly  fitted  my  dapple  Tunbridge — name  I  gave  her 
from  her  Morgan  sire,  and  by  which  in  after  years  she 
became  well  known  to  New  England  Abolitionists. 
Under  the  circumstances,  a  more  generous  gift  was 
never  bestowed.  And  more  than  once  was  the  gener 
ous  giver  cruelly  imprisoned  for  his  fidelity  to  the 
cause  of  the  more  cruelly  imprisoned  slave.  Readers 
may  hear  from  Nat  Allen  again. 

At  this  time  my  severed  connection  with  the  church 
and  pulpit  had  not  been  formal  ;  so  occasionally  I 
was  asked  to  preach  on  Sunday,  and  especially  where 
a  liberal  heresy  had  begun  to  assert  itself.  This  hap 
pened  in  Littleton,  where  some  wealthy  Unitarians  had 
aided  in  building  a  handsome  Congregational  church, 
on  one  condition.  There  were  only  one  or  two  fami 
lies,  and  they  seldom  or  never  asked  for  the  house, 
unless  once  or  twice  in  summer,  when  a  liberal  clergy 
man  might  chance  to  be  at  the  White  Mountains,  per 
haps  arriving  late  in  the  week.  It  need  not  be  said 
here  that  forty  and  more  years  ago  the  mountains 
were  no  such  resort  as  at  present  ;  nor  were  bronchitis 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AND    EXPERIENCES.  gi 

and  hay-fever  such  sore  judgments  of  the  pulpit  as  to 
day.  So  it  was  not  difficult  to  obtain  of  those  build 
ing  the  Littleton  church  a  pledge  that  the  Unitarians 
should  have  an  occasional  use  of  it  at  the  shortest 
notice. 

It  chanced  that  the  Unitarian  families  were  not 
hostile  to  anti-slavery,  and  when  I  arrived  in  town  on 
Saturday  afternoon,  my  friend  Allen  and  others  asked 
their  Unitarian  neighbors  to  invite  me  to  preach  for 
them  on  the  following  day.  There  was  no  objection,, 
but  it  was  questioned  whether  I,  being  a  Congrega- 
tionalist,  could  properly  ask  to  be  admitted  to  the 
pulpit  as  such.  To  this  there  could  be  but  one 
answer,  and  my  friend  Allen  went  with  me  to  call  on 
the  minister.  For  some  reason  we  did  not  see  him  till 
Sunday  morning.  When  we  called  in  the  morning: 
we  were  shown  into  the  library,  and  soon  the  minister 
entered,  attended  by  his  father,  also  a  clergy 
man,  well  and  widely  known,  but  retired  from  regular 
service.  We  were  coolly  greeted  and  denied  admis 
sion  to  the  pulpit  for  any  cause.  My  editorial  con 
nection  with  the  Herald  of  Freedom,  then  just  termin 
ated,  probably  had  not  increased  my  ministerial  pop 
ularity  and  any  argument  or  appeal  was  only  wasted. 
WTe  were  simply  reminded  that  we  had  our  answer  and 
that  it  was  getting  late  for  church.  I  think  we  had 
risen  to  our  feet  before  friend  Allen  began  his  part 
of  our  mission.  In  his  usual  serene  and  mild  manner 
he  said  :  "I  am  very  sorry  Mr.  Pillsbury  is  refused 
access  to  the  pulpit  to-day  in  such  an  unchristian 
manner  ;  but  I  am  instructed  to  say  by  the  Unitarian 
trustees  that,  in  case  of  such  refusal,  they  shall 
occupy  the  meeting-house  to-day,  and  that  Mr.  Pills- 
bury  will  be  their  preacher."  Which  at  once 
changed  the  whole  face  of  affairs.  Both  father  and 


92  ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

son  saw  and  felt  that  the  failure  was  with  them.  But 
the  end  of  the  interview  was  not  quite  come.  I  do 
not  remember  what  was  said  by,  but  only  to  our  two 
opponents.  I  told  the  minister  he  had  not  in  the 
least  disappointed  me,  but  that  I  should  now  prob 
ably,  disappoint  him.  Your  congregation,  I  said,  are 
already  assembling  ;  they  are  coming  to  hear  you  ; 
expect  to  hear  you — have  a  right  so  to  expect  ;  and  it 
is  not  in  me  nor  my  friend  Allen  to  wish  to  disappoint 
them.  So  go  now  and  attend  your  morning  service 
as  usual  ;  and  only  be  so  kind  as  to  give  notice  that 
I  will  preach  this  afternoon  and  lecture  on  slavery 
this  evening  at  seven  o'clock.  My  proposal  was 
accepted,  but  by  no  means  in  the  spirit  with  which  it 
was  made.  However,  it  resulted  admirably.  For 
Littleton  soon  became  one  of  our  very  best  anti- 
slavery  towns,  as  the  volumes  of  the  Herald  of  Free 
dom  of  subsequent  years  most  fully  show,  and  so 
remained  till  slavery  was  abolished. 

Another  incident  of  this  campaign  and  with  which 
another  congregational  minister  was  connected,  was 
in  Campton,  one  of  the  approaches  to  the  now  well 
known  "  Franconia  Notch  "  and  rock-ribbed  throne 
of  the  "Old  man  of  the  Mountain."  The  minister  was 
Thomas  Parnell  Beach.  His  small  but  well  instructed 
congregation  were  most  of  them  already  abolitionists. 
Arriving  at  his  house  by  invitation,  on  Saturday 
evening,  my  companion  and  myself  found  that 
arrangements  were  made  for  us  to  occupy  the  church 
next  day,  provided  I  would  give  the  morning  and 
afternoon  sermons.  The  proposal  was  accepted  and 
with  results,  near  and  remote,  of  which  none  of  us  that 
night  dreamed.  But  an  interest  was  awakened  which, 
in  less  than  one  year,  led  Mr.  Beach  to  withdraw  from 
his  sectarian  pulpit  and  denomination,  generally  at 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AND    EXPERIENCES.  93 

that  time  apparently  indifferent,  or  incorrigibly  pro- 
slavery,  and  to  reconsecrate  himself  unreservedly  to 
the  ministry  of  the  gospel  of  humanity. 

On  the  pleasant  August  afternoon  when  Mr.  Beach 
delivered  his  formal  and  affecting  valedictory  dis 
course  to  his  congregation,  Mr.  Rogers  of  the  Herald 
of  Freedom  was  present  and  sent  a  brief  report  to  his 
readers  in  the  next  paper,  as  given  below  in  his  own 
glowing  words  : 

Not  returning  home  so  soon  as  I  expected,  I  send 
for  editorial  what  I  may  throw  off  in  a  few  minutes 
before  the  departure  of  the  Concord  stage.  I  shall 
attempt  briefly  a  sketch  of  the  most  interesting  and 
important  Sunday  meeting  I  ever  witnessed,  yesterday 
at  Campton.  I  went  up  there  to  hear  our  persecuted 
and  hunted  brother,  Beach.  He 

has  set  an  example  for  the  age.  His  yesterday's  work 
in  the  little  meeting  house  at  Campton  will  constitute, 
I  apprehend,  an  important  point  of  remembrance — a 
land-mark  in  the  history  of  the  mighty  reformation 
now  going  on  for  the  deliverance  of  mankind  and  the 
overthrow  of  the  usurped  dominion  of  the  sectarian 
clergy  here  and  in  other  parts  of  Christendom.  Fore 
noon,  he  preached  from  the  text ;  "  The  foxes  have 
holes  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son 
of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head."  He  illustra 
ted  the  character  of  the  modern  church  and  clergy  in 
the  light  of  his  text — set  forth  their  love  of  the  world, 
of  popularity,  ease  and  comfort,  and  the  poverty  and 
destitution  of  the  Savior  and  his  disciples 
It  was  unmitigated,  unadulterated  gospel  preaching — 
a  terrible  sermon,  and  I  thought  while  hearing  it,  that 
it  contained  more  of  faithful,  uncompromising  gospel 
preaching  than  I  ever  before  heard.  The  auditory 
was  made  up  mostly  of  his  warm  friends  and  his  per 
secuting,  exasperated  enemies.  In  relation  to  his  stay 
among  them,  they  are  divided.  A  portion  of  them, 
including  the  new-organized  abolitionists,  are  ransack 
ing  the  land  to  find  petty  faults  on  which  to  found  his 
expulsion  by  a  pro-slavery  council.  They  have  had 


94  ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

one,  headed  by  Andrew  Rankin,  that  found  nothing  in 
him  worthy  of  death  or  excommunication.  Their 
infamous  partiality  and  hypocritical  procedure  went 
far  to  complete  the  opening  of  the  eyes  of  Brother 
Beach  to  the  anti-christian  character  of  the  whole 
sectarian  machinery.  And  on  Sunday  he  came  out  in 
all  the  confidence  of  simple  faith  in  God  and  in  the 
majesty  of  truth,  and  renounced  the  whole  of  it  to  an 
extent  and  in  a  manner,  which,  perfectly  prepared  as 
I  was  to  second,  I  was  not  prepared  to  witness,  and 
which  was  truly  overwhelming. 

Afternoon  he  took  his  stand  on  the  floor  of  the 
house,  in  front  of  the  poor  little  abdicated  pulpit, 
which  looked  utterly  insignificant  and  heathenish  when 
thus  pointedly  abandoned.  He  held  a  memorandum 
in  his  hand,  and  his  text  was,  "  Have  faith  in  God." 
He  spoke  of  the  character  of  faith,  not  like  a  hired 
clergyman  writing  on  his  contract  to  preach,  but  as  a 
man  experiencing  what  he  was  saying.  It  was  brief, 
full,  clear,  convincing,  convicting.  No  sound  mind 
could  doubt  his  meaning  or  its  truth.  He  said  if  a  man 
had  faith  he  would  know  it,  and  that  if  he  had  it  not 
he  would  know  it  ;  and  that  if  he  had  it  he  would  act 
upon  it,  and  if  he  did  not  act  upon  it  he  was  not  a 
Christian.  He  denied  that  the  gospel  could  be  preached 
in  faith  on  a  contract  for  a  salary.  He  said  the  preacher 
who  relied  on  his  contract  for  support,  did  not  rely  on 
God,  and  had  not  faith.  He  renounced  his  own  con 
tract  with  the  people  to  whom  he  was  preaching,  and 
released  them  from  it.  He  declared  himself  bound 
to  preach  to  them  at  the  calling  and  mission  of  Christ"; 
and  his  obligation  to  rely  on  God  for  support.  He 
released  the  people  from  all  obligation  they  were  under 
to  pay  him  or  sustain  him  for  future  preaching  during 
the  year,  or  for  what  they  owed  him  for  past  preach 
ing.  He  released  them  from  a  two  hundred  dollar 
obligation  and  a  forty  dollar  promissory  note  which 
they  owed  him,  and  declared  them  null  and  void, 
leaving  the  people  to  act  on  their  consciences  in  re 
gard  to  the  whole  of  it.  He  renounced  his  human 
license  to  preach  and  his  ordination  by  men.  He  re 
nounced  sectarian  organization,  and  expressed  his 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AND    EXPERIENCES.  95 

regret  that  he  ever  entered  into  any  covenant  with  a 
church  corporation,  or  added  anything  to  his  covenant 
made  with  Christ  at  the  surrender  of  his  heart  to  Him. 
He  renounced  all  profession  of  religion  but  that  of 
Christian  life  and  conversation — renounced  the  pulpit 
as  a  consecrated  elevation,  and  planted  himself  on  a 
level  with  his  hearers  ;  renounced  his  titled  minister- 
ship,  and  declared  he  should  henceforth  go  on  his 
mission  from  Christ  among  his  equal  fellow  men  and 
women.  He  declared  he  should  hold  no  more  meet 
ings  which  were  not  open  to  all  to  speak  freely  as  him 
self.  He  renounced  all  sermon  writing  as  a  mode  of 
preaching  the  gospel.  In  short,  he 

swept  the  board  of  all  the  mummeries  of  human  in 
vention  which  had  crept  in  upon  the  simplicity  of 
Christ,  and  he  did  it  all  with  a  calmness,  order  and 
ability  which  filled  me  with  admiration.  I  can  give  no 
account  of  it.  To  be  appreciated  it  must  have  been 
witnessed.  Thomas  Parnell  Beach  stands  now  "  re 
deemed,  regenerated  and  disenthralled,"  a  plain  and 
simple  preacher  of  Christ. 

The  subsequent  labors  of  Mr.  Beach  were  of  most 
devoted  and  heroic,  and  sometimes  suffering,  descrip 
tion,  but  not  of  long  continuance,  for  he  survived  less 
than  five  years  after  his  withdrawal  from  the  sectarian 
ministry.  He  died  in  Sharon,  Ohio,  on  the  thirtieth 
of  May,  1 846.  He  was  born  in  Canada,  Vermont,in  1 808, 
graduated  at  Bowdoin  Collge,  married  in  1837  Miss 
Sarah  Barker,  of  Bethel,  Maine,  and  settled  soon  after 
in  Wolfboro',  N.  H.,  as  Congregational  minister  and 
Preceptor  of  the  Academy,  from  which  he  afterwards 
removed  to  Campton,  where  the  anti-slavery  cause  dis 
covered  him  in  the  autumn  of  1840. 

Not  very  much  was  ever  written  concerning  him,  and 
few  at  this  day  probably  remember  him.  But  before 
this  anti-slavery  scripture  is  finished,  he  may  be  re 
curred  to  again  in  manner,  it  is  hoped,  not  unbecom 
ing  his  memory. 


96  ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

In  Whitefield,  one  of  my  Gilmanton  classmates  was 
the  Congregational  minister.  He  received  us  cordially, 
invited  me  to  his  pulpit  on  Sunday  morning,  and  to 
his  sacramental  supper  afterwards,  and  we  held  our 
subsequent  anti-slavery  meetings  in  his  meeting-house. 

Rev.  Mr.  Fleming,  of  Haverhill,  asked  me  to  preach 
for  him,  he  having  been  absent  the  past  week  and  not 
being  prepared  to  preach  himself.  But  at  the  close 
of  the  morning  service,  he  told  the  congregation 
what  he  had  done,  and  then,  turning  to  me,  he  said  if 
the  afternoon  discourse  was  to  be  like  this  just 
heard,  he  must  decline  it.  ^assured  him  it  could  not 
be  less  objectionable,  in  plain  speaking,  and  he  then 
announced  that  he  should  preach  in  the  afternoon 
himself.  Which  he  did,  and  gave  a  very  feeble  dis 
course  to  a  small  and  not  interested  audience.  My 
companion,  Mr.  French,  and  myself  sat  directly  be 
fore  him  and  near  the  pulpit,  evidently  much  to  his 
embarrassment.  Undoubtedly  his  refusal  to  permit 
my  preaching  in  the  afternoon  was  both  damage  to 
himself  and  advantage  to  me.  The  small,  uninter 
ested  audience  who  heard  him  was  surely  a  happy 
contrast,  and  most  significant,  too,  measured  by  our 
large  and  quite  spirited  and  attentive  house  in  the 
evening. 

At  that  period  the  anti-slavery  agents  were  accus 
tomed  to  call  early  on  the  ministers  when  they  entered 
a  town,  particularly  in  all  country  towns  and  parishes, 
to  confer  with  them  and  solicit  their  cooperation  in 
anti-slavery  work.  It  soon  became  apparent,  however, 
that  very  little  aid  was  to  be  expected  in  that  quarter. 
A  formal  division  in  the  ranks  of  professed  abolition 
ists  had  already  been  made,  and  the  evangelical 
churches  and  their  ministers  had,  with  wondrous 
unanimity,  so  far  as  they  were  anti-slavery  at  all,. 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AND    EXPERIENCES.  97 

joined  themselves  to  the  "  new  organization."  Griev 
ous  charges  were  preferred  against  Mr.  Garrison  for 
heresy  and  infidelity,  and  the  American  anti-slavery 
society,  at  its  anniversary  in  1840,  committed  the  un 
pardonable  sin  of  insisting  that  on  their  platform, 
however  it  might  be  in  the  church  or  elsewhere,  there 
should  be  no  high  nor  low,  rich  nor  poor,  great  nor 
small,  male  nor  female.  It  was  solemnly  asked  : 

l'  Shall  we  behold,  unheeding, 

Life's  holiest  feelings  crushed  ? 
When  woman's  heart  is  bleeding, 
Shall  woman's  voice  be  hushed  ?" 

Already  had  the  eloquence  of  Sarah  and  Angelina 
Grimke,  Abby  Kelley,  and  other  noble  women  begun 
to  thrill  the  hearts  of  women  and  men,  even  ministers, 
all  over  the  land,  as  they  tenderly  but  fearlessly 
pleaded  the  cause  of  the  slave  woman  under  the  lash 
and  red-hot  branding-iron  or  on  the  auction-block  with 
her  children,  she  sold  one  way,  they  in  other  ways, 
sundered  forever,  but  all  exposed  alike  to  the  cruel 
and  merciless  outrages  of  the  slave  system  !  At  the 
final  separation  the  woman  question  was  urged  most 
vehemently  as  reason  for  breaking  with  the  original 
American  society,  especially  by  the  clergy.  In  New 
Hampshire  the  Methodists  and  Free  Will  Baptists 
were  quite  numerous,  and  had  always  encouraged,  if 
not  even  demanded  that  their  church  members  should 
bear  active,  equal  part,  men  and  women,  in  all  social 
if  not  more  public  meetings  for  worship.  But  the 
more  dignified  denominations  there,  and  not  more 
there  than  in  every  state,  deemed  such  usage  a  pro 
fanation  and  abomination.  The  Hopkinton  Associa 
tion  of  Congregational  divines  doubtless  spoke  the 
general  sentiment  of  Congregationalism,  Presbyterian- 
ism,  and  all  the  sects  held  in  highest  esteem  in  all  the 


98  ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

states,  as  well  as  New  Hampshire,  in  a  solemn  decree 
unanimously  and  promptly  enacted,  the  declarative 
portion  of  which  was  to  this  effect : 

Not  that  women  may  not  bear  a  part  in  the  songs 
of  the  church,  because  this  is  an  established  part  of 
public  worship,  and  is  not  prohibited  to  women  as 
public  teaching  and  praying  are  ;  publicly  to  sing 
God's  praise,  under  men  as  leaders,  is,  by  implication, 
enjoined  upon  women,  as  is  the  celebration  of  the 
rioly  supper,  and  of  the  Savior's  resurrection,  by 
keeping  the  first  day  of  the  week  as  holy  time.  Nor 
does  the  prohibition  deprive  females  of  any  of  the 
privileges  of  the  Bible  class,  or  religious  conference, 
in  which  they  are  indulged  with  perfect  freedom  of 
speech,  in  answering  the  questions  which  their  pastors, 
leaders,  or  catechists  put  to  them.  But,  as  to  leading 
men,  either  in  instruction,  or  devotion,  and  as  to  any 
interruption,  or  disorder,  in  religious  meetings,  "  Let 
your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches  ;"  not  merely 
let  them  be  silent,  but  let  them  keep  or  preserve 
silence.  Not,  that  they  may  not  preach,  or  pray,  or 
exhort  merely,  but  they  may  not  open  their  lips,  to 
utter  any  sounds  audibly.  Let  not  your  women,  in 
promiscuous  religious  meetings,  preach  or  pray,  audi 
bly,  or  exhort  audibly,  or  sigh,  or  groan,  or  say  Amen, 
or  utter  the  precious  words,  "  Bless  the  Lord  ;  "  or  the 
enchanting  sounds,  "Glory  !  Glory  !  " 

The  resolution  to  sustain  the  equal  right  of  women 
on  the  anti- slavery  platform  with  man,  was  adopted  in 
the  American  Society  at  the  annual  meeting  in  New 
York  in  1840,  by  majority  of  557  to  440  ;  the  test 
question  at  the  time  being  simply  the  placing  of  a 
woman  on  one  of  the  committees.  But  the  new  organi 
zation  forthwith  sprang  out  of  it,  known  for  a  time  as 
the  American  and  Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  New  Hampshire  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  was  held  in  Concord,  less  than  a 
month  afterward  and  with  result  much  the  same,  only 
that  the  opposition  was  less  in  numbers,  though  by 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AND    EXPERIENCES.  99 

no  means  in  spirit.  The  test  vote,  admitting  or 
excluding  women  as  members  of  the  convention,  was 
on  an  amendment  substituting  the  word  gentlemen  for 
persons  as  originally  submitted.  The  amendment  was 
lost,  197  to  58  ;  and  the  original  resolution  was  adopted 
nearly  unanimously,  and  with  much  enthusiasm.  But 
a  new  organization  society  was  immediately  attempted, 
though  with  but  indifferent  success,  excepting  for 
political  purposes,  though  carrying  with  it  nearly  all 
the  ministers  and  most  of  the  church  members  who 
made  any  pretentions  to  anti-slavery  in  the  state. 

The  Connecticut  Anti-Slavery  Society  went  over  to 
the  new  organization  almost  in  a  body,  with  maledic 
tions  on  the  doctrine  of  woman's  equality  anywhere. 
The  Hartford  Congregationalist  also  declared  that  the 
women's  anti-slavery  Fair  had  to  be  taken  from 
New  Haven  because  no  place  in  that  city  could  be 
obtained  in  which  to  hold  it.  The  meeting  at  which 
the  society  set  its  terrible  ban  on  women  was  held 
there  and  would  have  been  held  in  a  Congregational 
•church,  but  both  minister  and  church,  the  man  part  of 
it,  declared  it  should  not  be  opened  without  a  pledge 
given  that  women  should  neither  speak  nor  vote  in 
the  meetings  !  That  same  minister  presided  at  the 
opening  of  the  meeting,  when  and  where  it  was  held 
and  declared  with  indignant  warmth  :  "  I  will  not  sit 
in  a  chair  where  women  bear  rule  ;  I  will  not  sit 
in  a  meeting  where  the  sorcery  of  woman's  tongue  is 
thrown  around  my  heart ;  Women  shall  not  speak  in 
our  meetings.  I  will  not  submit  to  petticoat  govern 
ment,  here,  nor  anywhere  else.  I  had  enough  of  that 
in  my  childhood.  Now  I  am  a  man,  I  will  not  sub 
mit  to  it  even  in  my  own  house.  No  woman  shall 
lord  it  over  me.  I  am  major-domo  in  my  own  house." 
Some  one  responded  in  the  audience:  "A  strange  spirit 


100          ACTS    OF    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES, 

has  risen  up  among  us  ;  "  and  he  immediately  called 
him  to  order  ;  adding,  "  I  think  I  have  the  spirit  of  God. 
I  am  a  Christian  !  "  This,  and  the  Haverhill  and 
Littleton  ministers  already  described,  with  the  Hop- 
kinton  association  of  divines,  were  only  true  repre 
sentatives  of  the  great  majority  of  the  popular  New 
England  clergy  of  that  day.  Their  plainness  of 
speech  well  accorded  with  the  rest.  And  besides, 
much  larger  bodies  than  the  Hopkinton  association, 
were  alike  audacious  in  utterance,  as  well. 

That  campaign  in  northern  New  Hampshire,  made 
in  the  autumn  after  the  society  secessions,  separations 
and  new  organizations,  fully  convinced  me,  had  other 
hopes  been  entertained  before,  that  the  church  and 
its  ministry  would  be  found  in  very  deed  the  "bul 
warks,"  if  not  at  last  "the  forlorn  hope  of  slavery," 
in  complete  confirmation  of  the  declarations  of 
Hon.  James  G.  Birney. 

It  was  no  less  plain,  too,  that  very  few  of  the  aboli 
tionists  themselves  were  aware  of  the  terrible  contest 
before  them  ;  as  many  later  withdrawals  from  their 
always  scanty  ranks  proved.  In  a  subsequent  account 
rendered  to  the  society  through  their  paper,  the  Her 
ald,  I  hazarded  the  prediction,  that  "before  the  fell 
demon  of  slavery  should  be  cast  out,  there  would  be 
contortions,  foamings  and  wallowings  to  rend  our 
civil,  social,  and  ecclesiastical  organizations,  in  so 
much  that  many  would  say,  *  They  are  dead.'  For  it 
is  of  a  kind  that  goeth  not  out  but  by  prayer  and 
fasting.  Other  foul  spirits,  too,  will  be  discovered  ; 
their  very  name,  legion.  All  the  foundations  of  the 
great  deep  will  be  broken  up.  On  earth  must  be  per 
plexity  and  distress  of  nations  ;  the  sea  and  the  waves 
roaring,  and  the  hearts  of  men  failing  them  for  fear, 


PERSONAL    SKETCHES    AM) I' EXPERIENCES.   '  ',  10l 

and  for  looking  at  the  things  that  ara  ccrring  on  the 
earth  ;  for  the  powers  of  heaven  shall- be  shak^ri."' 

If  our  thirty  years  war  of  moral  and  peaceful  agita 
tion  failed  to  fulfill  all  these  prophecies,  what  shall  be 
said  of  the  subsequent  four  years  war  of  rebellion, 
with  all  their  frightful  costs  of  blood  and  treasure  ? 
War,  whose  thunders  shook  the  land,  the  sea,  the 
skies  !  Whose  reverberations  still  go  sounding  down 
towards  the  night  of  the  nineteenth  century  ! 


CHAPTER    VI. 

CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS     WITH     MR.     ROGERS 

AND  MR.  FOSTER— DIGRESSION  ON 

NEW  ORGANIZATION. 

New  Hampshire  continued  my  field  of  operations 
through  1840.  Following  the  Grafton  county  cam 
paign  were  two  or  three  quite  notable  anti-slavery 
conventions,  the  best  everyway,  perhaps,  at  Milford, 
when  all  parts  of  Hillsboro'  county  had  representa 
tion.  Mr.  Garrison,  Mr.  Rogers,  Mr.  Foster,  and 
some  others  were  present  to  assist  in  the  proceedings. 

The  genius  and  spirit  of  our  movement  at  that  time 
may  be  gathered  somewhat  from  the  Resolutions  gen 
erally,  most  thoroughly  considered  and  usually  adopt 
ed  with  few,  if  any,  dissenting  voices.  At  Milford  the 
following  passed  after  a  searching  and  able  discussion: 

Resolved,  That  slavery  is  a  national,  not  a  local,  in 
stitution,  and  the  whole  people  are  involved  in  all  its- 
guilt,  evils  and  dangers. 

Resolved,  That  the  churches,  rebuked  by  anti-slavery 
and  pronounced  unworthy  the  name  of  Christian,  and 
the  clergymen  whom  it  declares  unworthy  of  support 
as  religious  teachers,  are  those,  and  only  those,  who 
connive  at  the  existence  of  American  slavery,  or  re 
fuse  to  bear  faithful,  public  testimony  against  it. 

Resolved,  That  the  anti-slavery  society  was  originally 
constituted  on  principles  of  perfect  equality  and  jus 
tice,  arid  any  attempt  to  change  that  construction,  and 
to  new  organize  it,  is  a  departure  from  those  principles 
and  a  practical  betrayal  of  the  cause  of  the  slave. 

Milford  was  early  an  anti-slavery  town.  With  such 
resolutions  most  ably  discussed,  and  almost  unanim- 


CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS.  103 

ously  adopted  by  a  large  congregation,  the  meeting 
was  everyway  a  success.  It  commenced  on  Thanks 
giving  evening,  with  an  opening  address  by  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  in  the  spacious  and  then  new  Congregational 
meeting-house,  the  minister,  Mr.  Warner,  another 
Gilmanton  classmate  of  mine.  Himself  and  church, 
however,  were  already  far  on  the  road  to  new  organi 
zation.  Those  who  remained  faithful  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  soon  after  withdrew  from  the  church, 
and  were  henceforth  known  as  come-outers,  infidels,, 
non-resistants,  Garrisonians,  or  whatever  other  name, 
honorable  or  opprobrious,  was  fastened  upon  them 
and  others  like  them. 

It  may  be  worthy  of  mention  that  the  Concord  at 
tendants  drove  over  to  Milford  in  two  open  carriages, 
leaving  home  early  on  Thanksgiving  morning,  in  a 
cold  November  rain,  from  which  umbrellas  were  a 
poor  protection.  But  the  joyous  greeting  and  recep 
tion  which  awaited  us  at  our  half-way  house,  the 
hospitable  and  sumptuous  home  of  the  farmers, 
Luther  and  Lucinda  Melendy,  on  Chestnut  hill,  in 
Amherst,  very  soon  dispelled  all  memory  of  outside 
storms,  or  other  exposure  or  inconvenience.  Rogers,  in 
his  Herald  account  of  the  convention,  said  of  this 
incident: 

We  were  received  at  the  Melendys  with  the  wel 
come  which  compensates  for  months  of  pro-slavery 
scowling  round  about  our  path  of  life.  Cordiality  and 
brotherly  love  adorned  the  face  of  the  household — 
the  bounties  of  the  season,  the  hospitable  board  ;  and 
the  Bible,  the  Liberator,  Herald  of  Freedom,  and  Na 
tional  Anti- Slavery  Standard  the  reading  table.  Here 
were  the  circumstances  and  conditions  of  genuine 
anti-slavery.  We  were  obliged  to 

leave  the  interesting  spot  too  soon.  We  reached  Mil- 
ford,  brother  and  sister  Melendy  in  company,  just  as 
friend  Warner's  meeting-house  was  lighted  up  for  a 


104  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

lecture  from  Garrison.     It  rained  with  all  the  dismal- 
ness  of  a  November  night. 

But  our  Milford  reception  cleared  the  sky  of  every 
cloud,  and  hung  rainbows  of  beauty  and  joy  in  every 
direction.  Those  early  anti-slavery  friendships  surely 
were  akin  to  heaven  itself,  growing  brighter,  too,  and 
more  beautiful,  as  the  subsequent  tempests  of  pro 
scription,  ostracism  and  persecution  rose  in  all  their 
terrors  over  us.  The  triple  power  of  society,  the 
state  and  the  church,  conspired  against  the  rising  tide 
of  humanity  and  liberty  ;  determined,  apparently,  to 
rivet  on,  fast  and  forever,  the  fetters  of  the  slave,  in 
the  name  of,  and  with  sanction  of  our  democratic  re 
publicanism  and  Protestant  Christian  religion.  At 
that  hour  all  our  hearts  seemed  to  beat  as  one — all 
anointed  vision  to  see  eye  to  eye.  Garrison  and 
Rogers  had  not  met  before  since  their  arrival  in  Bos 
ton  from  their  foreign  tour,  not  many  weeks  previously, 
and  they  greeted  each  other  as  David  and  Jonathan, 
when  their  loves  "  passed  the  love  of  women  !  "  At 
that  convention,  almost  all  exclaimed,  "  It  is  good  for 
us  to  be  here."  We  reached  Concord  from  the  Mil- 
ford  convention  on  Saturday  night,  glad  and  thankful 
for  one  day  of  change,  if  not  of  rest,  after  our  Thanks 
giving  week's  work. 

On  Monday,  Stephen  Foster  and  myself  had  en 
gagements  in  Canterbury.  Our  valiant  friend  Rogers, 
desirous  to  extend  his  acquaintance  among  the  abo 
litionists  of  the  state,  volunteered  to  accompany  us 
and  to  continue  with  us  another  week.  Canterbury 
and  last  of  November  continued  for  us  cold  and 
most  inhospitable  receptions.  The  meeting-house  was 
closed  altogether,  and  the  town-hall  was  as  dirty  and 
disagreeable,  everyway,  as  it  was  dilapidated  and  cold. 
But  we  got  into  it.  Pretty  soon  the  meeting-house 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  105 

was  unlocked,  and  a  few  came,  among  others  the 
Congregational  minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Patrick.  Our  friend 
Foster,  and  most  of  his  quite  numerous  family  con 
nections,  were,  or  had  been,  members  of  his  church  ; 
and  as  Foster  reasoned  of  righteousness,  temperance 
and  judgment  to  come,  his  minister  trembled.  In 
great  excitement  he  rose  to  his  feet  as  if  to  speak. 
He  stood  a  moment,  as  though  deliberating  whether  to 
speak  or  retire.  But  for  some  reason  he  did  neither, 
and  soon  sat  down,  though  much  agitated  at  what  he 
had  to  hear,  and  the  truth  of  which  he  well  knew 
could  not  be  questioned.  The  evening  meeting  was 
better  attended,  and  excellent  work  was  done,  with 
results  not  yet  wholly  effaced  ;  as  the  generous  and 
high  moral  and  progressive  sentiment  of  the  thriving: 
little  town  has  always  shown. 

Our  next  gathering  was  at  Sanbornton  Bridge,  and 
in  the  very  meeting-house  out  of  whose  pulpit,  a  few 
years  before,  Rev.  George  Storrs  had  been  violently 
jerked,  as,  on  his  knees,  he  was  preceding  an  anti-slav 
ery  address  with  prayer.  He  was  arraigned  as  a  com 
mon  brawler  before  a  magistrate,  and  tried  as  such. 

How  we  and  our  mission  might  be  estimated  in  such 
society,  was  shown  in  the  fact  that  as  it  was  presumed 
we  should  occupy  the  pulpit,  the  cushions  were  thor 
oughly  plastered  over  with  well  crushed  but  most  de 
plorably  z/;/-merchantable  eggs.  Had  the  young  priests 
of  such  an  unholy  anointing  only  known  us  a  very 
little  better,  they  might  have  been  spared  such  an 
offering  to  their  idol.  We  had  a  good  while  before 
proved  most  of  the  pulpits  to  be  but  cowards'  castles, 
or  despots'  thrones,  even  without  the  baptism  of  bad 
eggs,  and  shunned  the  whole  of  them  accordingly. 
The  afternoon  meeting  was  small,  numerically,  but 
not  so  the  evening,  for  the  heroes  of  the  pulpit- 


106  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

cushion  and  addled  eggs  attended  in  person,  and  ren 
dered  speaking  most  difficult  by  their  foys-trous  pro 
ceedings.  Still,  our  work  resulted  beyond  expectation. 
We  were  handsomely  and  hospitably  entertained  by 
Dr.  Ladd  and  others  ;  and  as  w;e  were  then  raising  the 
means  to  discharge  a  debt  of  two  thousand  dollars 
owed  by  our  society,  we  were  much  cheered  by  our 
success  in  that  direction. 

From  the*  valley  of  Sjan&ornton  Bridge  we  ascended 
next  day  to  the  heights  of  Sanbornton  Square.  We 
had  not  heard  that  even  new  organization  had  dared 
invade  it,  so  well  and  widely  was  its  hostility  to  the 
anti-slavery,  temperance,  and  other  reforms  under 
stood.  At  the  Bridge  we  did  discover  tracks  of  a  newr 
organized  agent,  a  minister  who  had  done  his  best  and 
worst,  there  and  elsewhere,  to  blast  the  fair  fame  of 
the  old  society  and  all  its  instrumentalities,  though, 
as  we  saw,  more  to  his  own  harm  than  ours.  But  how  we 
sped  at  the  Square  can  best  be  told  by  the  editor  of 
the  Herald  of  Freedom  himself.  In  the  number  of 
December  4th,  1840,  some  editorial  correspondence 
read  as  below  : 

After  dinner,  Wednesday,  we  rode  to  Sanbornton 
Square,  calling  on  Richard  Lane.  Mrs.  Lane  seemed 
an  abolitionist.  Her  husband  was  absent,  but  they 
had  received  no  notice  of  an  anti-slavery  meeting. 
Came  soon  to  the  sightly  and  commanding  Square, 
superb  with  prospect.  Tavern  kept  by  Mr.  Lane.  It 
is  the  Lane  that  leads  to  the  chambers  of  death — a 
broad  one,  and  numbers  throng  it.  Had  occasion  to 
go  into  it.  Many  smoking  their  pipes  in  the  bar-room. 
One  respectable  looking  elderly  gentleman  at  the  end 
of  a  cigar.  All  smoking  away,  and  the  air  three- 
quarters  tobacco.  Asked  the  landlord  if  any  appoint 
ments  had  been  given  out  Sunday  before  of  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting,  taking  for  granted  if  there  had  he 
would  have  heard  of  it,  the  rum  tavern  being  in  some 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  IOJ 

places  on  good  terms  with  the  meeting-house.  None 
that  he  knew  of.  Brother  Pillsbury  had  gone  up  to 
the  neighborhood  of  the  academy  to  find  a  Mr. 
Webster,  said  to  be  an  abolitionist.  Resolved  to  go 
there  ;  felt  utterly  desolate  in  the  smoky  rum  tavern 
and  the  heartless  pro-slavery  square.  Homesick  to 
find  one  anti-slavery  house.  Went  to  Mr.  Webster's  ; 
told  Mrs.  W.  (husband  not  in)  that  she  must,  if  con 
venient,  receive  us  as  travelers  at  their  temperance 
tavern.  Our  request  was  readily  granted.  Called  out 
with  brother  Pillsbury  to  see  about  a  meeting.  Met 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Bodwell,  Congregational  minister,  in 
company  with  a  distinguished  Colonizationist,  Dr. 
Webster,  of  Hill.  Rev.  Mr.  Bodwell  said  he  had 
received  no  notice  of  the  meeting.  Ascertained  of 
him  there  was  to  be  a  prayer  meeting  at  the  academy 
that  evening.  Proposed  to  him,  if  perfectly  agreeable 
to  him,  to  have  our  anti-slavery  meeting  instead,  and 
at  the  academy,  if  he  thought  best ;  not  otherwise,  he 
having  remarked  just  before  that  if  we  had  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting  in  the  neighborhood  there  would  be 
probably  few  at  the  prayer  meeting.  He  was  not 
opposed  to  us,  he  was  not  in  favor  of  us  ;  he  stood 
neutral,  and  he  wished  to  be  so  considered.  He  did 
not  wish  to  be  considered  as  having  been  called  on  in 
relation  to  the  meeting  ;  could  not  say  whether  he 
would  be  present  or  not;  told  us  Esquire  Lane, 
Colonel  Sanborn  and  himself  were  the  committee  in 
charge  of  the  academy  ;  did  not  wish  himself  to  give 
permission  to  use  the  academy  for  a  meeting  ;  wished 
us  to  consult  Esquire  L.  and  Colonel  S.,  and  did  not 
wish  to  be  considered  as  having  been  consulted  at  all 
in  relation  to  the  academy.  We  remarked  to  him  that 
it  did  not  seem  to  us  he  could  possibly  take  a  neutral 
position,  but  he  must  judge  for  himself.  In  the  course 
of  our  talk,  Dr.  Webster  remarked  that  he  objected  to 
the  abolitionists  for  their  opposition  to  colonization  ; 
that  he  did  not  see  as  they  need  quarrel  with  that,  or 
why  both  could  not  go  on  harmoniously  together. 
Mr.  Bodwell  said  he  could  not,  and  that  he  had  no 
objection  to  abolition  if  it  did  not  oppose  colonization, 
and  he  thought  both  might  go  on  together.  We  told 


IOcS  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

him  if  that  were  possible  he  might,  for  aught  we  could 
see,  be  an  abolitionist,  whether  we  liked  colonizing  the 
colored  people  or  not.      He  need  not  oppose  abolishing 
slavery  because  we  opposed  colonizing  the  free  colored 
people.     It  was  bleak  talking  on  the   cold   hill   side, 
and  we   parted,  Mr.  Bodwell  to   his  snug  parsonage 
and  we  down  to  find  Esquire  Lane.     We   found   him 
accidently  at  the   bar  room  of  the  tavern,  and  asked 
him  for   the  academy,   telling   him    of  the   non  entity 
position  of  Rev.  Mr.  Bodwell,  not  assenting  nor  deny 
ing,   nor   doing  neither,   neither  doing  anything  nor 
nothing  at   all.     Esquire  L.   said   at  once   he  had  no- 
objection,  though  he  did  not  countenance  the  meeting. 
He  said  we  were  all  slaves  here.     We  told  him  we  were 
afraid   so.     He  said   he   was  opposed  to  using  force 
against  us — force  had  been  used  but  he   never  coun 
tenanced  it  ;  thought  it  only  promoted  our  object,  the 
way  was  to  keep  away  from  us.   The  subject  he  thought 
ought  not  to  be  agitated  here  where  we  had  no  slaves. 
We  told   him   men  differed  as  to  the  propriety  of  agi 
tating  here,  and  that  that  was  a  fair  matter  of  discus 
sion,  and  asked  him  if  it  were  not.      He  admitted  that 
it  was,  and  that  we  had  the   right  to   discuss,  but  he 
should  not  come  near  us.     We  told  him  we  should  be 
glad  to  have  him  attend,  and  if  we  were  wrong  put  us 
right.      Barroom  by  this  time   pretty   full.      Esquire 
Caleb  Kimball,  among  others,  considerably  excited  by 
opposition  to  anti-slavery,  or  some  other  cause,  said  he 
knew  us  and  was  a  friend,  but  had  no  opinion  of  this 
nigger  question  ;  we  had  no  right  to  be  stirring  it  up 
here  ;    if   anybody    wanted   a  black    wife,    he    might 
have  one  for  all  him.     (A  laugh.)     He  had  as  lief  we 
should  get  pelted  with  rotten  eggs  as  anyway,  though 
he  did  not  approve  of  mobs.     He  was  far  from  approv 
ing   mobs  ;  he   would  not  be   catched   in   one.     The 
constitution,  he   thought,   guaranteed   slavery  to  the 
states,  and  the  north  no  business  to  interfere  ;   had  no 
business  with  it  any  way  ;  we  had   no  more  right  to 
take  away  their  property  than  they  had  to  come  and 
take  away  our  cattle.     The  company  gathered  around 
and  we  carried   on   the   talk  under   a  thick  cloud  of 
tobacco  smoke  mixed  with  the   breath  of  the   tavern 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  109 

bar.     We   did   not   deny  Esquire   Kimball's   opinion, 
but  contended  that  we  and  he  had  the  right  of  discus 
sion    and    liberty    of    speech    about    any   subject    we 
pleased.     We  were  one  of  the  people  as  much  as  he 
was,  and  had  a  right  to   our  opinions,   and  meant   to 
have  just  what  opinions  we  pleased,  and  to  speak  our 
sentiments  out  anywhere  and  everywhere,  and  at  all 
times,  and  for  all  of  anybody,  and  everybody  else  had 
the  same  right,  and  we   did   not   believe   there   was  a 
man  in  the  room  who  would  deny  it.     We  were  going 
to  have  a  meeting  if  we  could  get  a  place,  and  should 
be    glad    to    have    every    friend    present    attend     it 
and  speak    his    mind    freely,    and    we    believed    that 
if    they    could    hear    us   every    man    would    say    that 
we   were   right.       We   said   slavery    was    an    abomin 
able  thing  ;  it  was  in  the  country  and  we  had  a  right 
to  talk  about  it,  to  talk  against  it,   and   we  meant  to, 
and  had  got  to  ;  and  if  we  did  not  and  run  it  down,  it 
would  run  us  down,  and  eat  us  out  of  house  and  home  ; 
had   nearly  done  it  already  ;  had  made  us  nearly  all 
slaves  here,  as  Esquire  Lane  had  just  said  ;  that  it  had 
got  us  so  low  that  we  did   not  dare  to  speak  about  it 
or  allow  our  neighbors  to  ;  that  Esquire  Kimball  had 
just  said  he  thought  we  ought  to  be  pelted  with  rotten 
eggs  if  we  did  not   keep  still   about  it.     The  'squire 
said  he  was  no  friend  to  mobs.     Yes,  but  said  we,  you 
.said  you  had  as  lief  we  should  be   pelted   with   rotten 
eggs  as  not  if  we  stirred  up  this  slavery  question  here  ; 
and  if  we  did  you   would   have   to  mob  us.     Slavery, 
we  said,  would  demand  it  of  you,  and  you  would  have 
to.    The  'squire  said  his  father  was  one  that  helped  to 
adopt  the  constitution,   and  he  remembered  all  about 
it,  and  about  slavery  ;  it  was  in  the  constitution,  he 
said.     We  contended  that  the  constitution  was  a  free 
one,  and  was  always  called  so,  and  a  glorious  free  one, 
and  the  like.     And  so  we  went  on  discussing,  and  the 
very   rum-drinkers    and    tobacco-eaters   and   smokers 
heard  us  with  a  patience  the  Rev.    Mr.  Bodwell  could 
not  in  his  meeting-house;  reminding  us,  as  we  thought 
of  it,  of  the  Savior's  comparison  of  the  publicans  and 
harlots  with  the  clergy  of  Jerusalem.     We  could  con 
vince  the  tavern  haunters,  by  the  way,  if  the  property 


HO  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

and  standing  would  only  allow  us  a  chance,  we  could 
make  abolitionists  of  them  much  easier  than  of  the 
better  classes,  civil,  military  or  ecclesiastical.  *  *  * 
*  *  *  A  tall  substantial-looking  farmer  came  in 
and  listened  awhile  to  our  discussion  as  we  were  talk 
ing  of  slavery's  effect  on  the  north.  He  said  emphat 
ically  that  it  was  as  bad  to  enslave  black  people  as 
white  ;  and  that  if  you  enslave  any  it  enslaves  every 
body  else  ;  and  if  you  allow  slavery  in  the  country 
you  can't  keep  liberty.  Give  us  the  blue-frocked 
farmers  for  anti-slavery.  *  *  *  On  the  whole,  we 
had  a  grand  meeting,  and  wish  we  had  continued  it 
there  in  the  evening  ;  we  should  have  had  an  atten 
tive  auditory,  and  we  don't  believe  Mr.  Lane  would 
have  sold  a  drop  the  whole  evening.  We  went  out 
with  brother  Pillsbury,  after  getting  leave  to  have  the 
academy,  and  called  at  every  house  and  notified  the 
people  of  our  meeting,  and  brother  Foster  drove  in  his 
sulky  out  of  the  neighborhood  to  do  the  same.  The 
hour  arrived  ;  we  resorted  to  the  literary  institution. 
It  was  a  steeple  edifice — meeting-house  and  town- 
house  (church  and  state)  hard  by  all  in  a  row  ;  all 
steepled  and  painted  as  white  as  so  many  "  whited 
sepulchres."  No  light  gleamed  from  the  academy 
windows  ;  all  dark  as  "  the  people  covered  with  gross 
darkness."  We  entered  it  ;  not  a  spark  of  fire  nor  a 
soul  there.  We  consulted  what  to  do.  Four  little 
boys  came  in,  then  one  man.  Deacon  Lane,  and  a 
woman,  then  two  young  women,  academy  scholars, 
boarders  at  our  friend  Webster's,  one  more  man,  and 
lastly,  friend  Webster  himself,  the  abolitionist  of  San- 
bornton  Square,  and  our  assembly  was  complete. 
Brother  Pillsbury  found  the  bell  rope  and  pulled  it 
till  the  sound  rang  clear  and  loud  all  over  Sanbornton 
hills.  It  agitated  the  cold  night  air,  but  not  the  colder 
hearts  of  the  people.  Brother  Bodwell  must  have 
heard  it  like  a  knell  in  his  study.  Nobody  else  came 
near.  Brother  Pillsbury  went  to  a  store  and  bought  a 
candle  and  lighted  the  house,  wrapping  a  bit  of  news 
paper  round  it  and  setting  it  in  a  corner  of  the  desk. 
It  threw  its  beams  round  upon  the  empty  seats  and 
the  "darkness  visible"  of  the  "Woodman  Sanbornton 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  Ill 

Academy,"  the  title,  we  believe,  of  this  Liberal  insti 
tution.  We  held  a  season  of  prayer,  not  with  the  full 
formalities  of  a  meeting.  We  felt  the  desolate  condi 
tion  of  the  unfortunate  people  and  their  minister,  and 
we  prayed  for  them.  Brother  Foster  followed.  When 
we  rose  from  our  knees  he  opened  his  mouth  to 
the  handful  present  in  a  most  impressive  and  striking- 
exhortation,  addressing  them  as  "  the  entire  humanity 
of  the  place,"  told  them  that  on  them,  in  the  provi 
dence  of  God,  had  devolved  the  responsibility  of 
awakening  that  people  and  minister  ;  told  them  the 
slave's  case  and  of  the  judgment,  and  bore  an  appal 
ling  testimony  against  the  place.  Brother  Pillsbury 
and  myself  followed  with  similar  appeal  and  testimony. 
Friend  Webster  spoke  with  feeling  for  the  cause  and 
sorrow  for  the  state  of  the  people,  and  we  separated, 
chilled  by  sitting  without  fire.  Brothers  Foster  and 
Pillsbury  went  to  see  Mr.  Bodwell,  and  from  what 
they  said,  did  their  duty  to  him  faithfully. 

Could  the  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Freedo-m  have  ac 
companied  Mr.  Foster  and  myself  through  the  state, 
during  that  cold  and  dreary  winter,  he  would  have 
found  many  Sanbornton  Squares,  and  some  even  more 
benighted  and  morally  desolate.  Even  at  the  tavern 
there,  we  met  several  persons  who,  spite  of  rum,  tobacco, 
blasphemy  and  negro  hate,  spoke  many  kindly  words, 
and  thought  we  were  honest  in  our  belief  and  work, 
and  entitled  to  better  treatment  than  we  were  receiv 
ing.  And  the  generous,  even  heroic,  hospitality  of 
Mr.  Josiah  Webster  and  his  excellent  wife  (father  and 
mother  of  our  Concord  fellow-citizen,  Calvin  Webster, 
then  a  boy  of  thirteen)  won  our  admiration,  as  well  as 
gratitude,  for  in  those  days  it  was  often  perilous  to 
harbor  and  entertain  an  abolitionist.  Mr.  Webster 
had  a  brother,  Rev.  John  Calvin  Webster,  who  was 
also  well  known  as  an  abolitionist,  and,  f,or  a  clergy 
man,  of  best  and  truest  type,  away  beyond  and  above 
most  of  his  clerical  brethren. 


112  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

Leaving  Sanbornton  we  crossed  over  to  Gilmanton, 
then  seat  of  the  Theological  seminary  from  which  I 
emerged  a  licensed  Congregational  minister  two  years 
before,  one  of  a  class  of  eleven,  the  first  graduating 
class,  most  of  us  professing  to  be  earnest,  outspoken 
abolitionists.  Our  reception  at  Gilmanton,  but  for 
one  family,  must  have  been  as  dreary  and  cheerless  as 
Sanbornton  Square  would  have  been  without  its 
Websters.  And  we  had  begun  to  say  that  every  Sodom 
seemed  to  have  a  Lot,  and  every  Sahara  at  least  one 
oasis.  And  in  the  spacious,  hospitable  home  of  Mr. 
Clark,  we  were  like  Bunyan's  pilgrims  on  the  "  Delec 
table  mountains." 

But  alas  for  our  cause  !  The  Congregational  meet 
ing-house  was  opened,  warmed  and  lighted  for  us, 
afternoon  and  evening,  and  the  minister  had  given 
notice  of  our  coming  from  the  pulpit.  The  Theolog 
ical  seminary  and  academy  were  close  at  hand,  the 
latter  with  its  preceptor  and  pupils  ;  the  former  with 
its  three  professors  and  as  many  classes.  In  the  vil 
lage  were  a  Methodist  and  Quaker,  as  well  as  Con 
gregational  meeting-house,  and  all  open  on  Sunday  for 
worship.  The  day  was  not  unfavorable,  the  traveling 
for  the  season  was  remarkably  good.  At  the  appointed 
hour  we  entered  the  meeting-house.  It  was  empty 
and  void  as  chaos  before  the  eternal  fiat  had  gone 
forth,  "  Let.there  be  light."  The  Clarks  came  in  good 
time.  Next  three  women,  then  two  theological  stu 
dents  and  one  other  man.  The  Baptist  minister,  Rev. 
Mr.  Boswell,  had  ridden  over  some  miles  of  Gilman 
ton  hills  to  be  present,  and  remained  through  the 
evening,  giving  friendly  and  approving  testimony,  and 
late  and  last  Mr.  Lancaster,  Congregational  minister. 
He  came  to  both  meetings,  but  spoke  no  word.  In 
the  evening  the  numbers  were  less  by  two  or  three, 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  113 

the  only  woman  present,  Mrs.  Lancaster,  wife  of  the 
minister.  Nor  was  there  but  one  theological  student. 
Three  years  before  had  the  like  of  Rogers  and  Foster 
come  there  to  speak  on  slavery,  my  whole  class  of  eleven 
would  surely  have  attended,  with  possibly  one  or  two 
exceptions,  and  though  most  of  us  were  working  our 
passage  into  the  pulpit,  the  dollar  or  half  dollar  of 
each  would  have  helped  on  the  collection.  But  at 
that  time  the  torpedo  touch  of  new  organization  had 
not  done  its  fell  work  ;  and  many  of  the  younger  min 
isters,  as  well  as  theological  students,  were  earnest  and 
devoted  abolitionists.  While  slavery  was  regarded 
only  as  an  evil,  and  at  the  distant  south,  no  tell-tale 
telegraph  nor  lightning  express  trains,  nor  even 
"  under-ground  railroad"  between,  discussion  of  it 
might  be  tolerated.  But  when  Garrison  proclaimed  it 
a  sin  and  crime,  always  and  everywhere,  the  pulpit 
began  to  be  alarmed.  And  when  next  we  began  to 
resolve  and  re-resolve  that  no  slave-holder  could  be  a 
Christian  ;  and  later  that  his  northern  abettor  and 
.apologist  was  as  bad  as  himself ;  and  that  a  slave- 
holding  religion  was  essentially  anti-Christ  ;  a  slave- 
holding  church  a  synagogue  of  Satan,  and  a  slave- 
holding  ministry  and  all  the  fellow  communicants  a 
brotherhood  of  thieves,  of  man-stealers,  the  battle  was 
joined  in  deadly  earnest. 

Our  next  encounter  was  Pittsneld.  The  Congrega- 
tionalist  minister,  Mr.  Curtis,  was  a  pioneer  in  the  new 
organization,  and  in  various  ways  we  felt  his  baneful 
influence.  The  Free-will  Baptist  minister  and  one  or 
two  of  his  congregation  showed  us  some  hospitality, 
•especially  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCrillis  of  his  church. 
We  had  an  audience  of  a  dozen,  but  two  young  men 
•of  them  had  come  with  us*  all  the  ten  hilly  miles  from 
Gilmanton.  Pittsneld  was  a  flourishing  cotton  factory 


114  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

village,  and  Mr.  Curtis  had  at  one  time  been  an  able 
anti-slavery  apostle  ;  nor  did  he  apostatize  till  the  axe 
was  laid  at  the  root  of  the  deadly  tree  of  slavery,  the 
church  and  its  pulpit.  He  was  president  of  the  New 
Hampshire  anti-slavery  society  at  the  time  of  secession, 
but  he  had  been  conspiring  with  his  clerical  brethren 
all  the  previous  year,  1839,  to  seize  the  helm  of  the 
society  and  bring  it  under  clerical  and  congregational 
control.  At  the  anniversary  of  that  year,  he  exhibited 
much  sectarian  bitterness  and  new  organization 
predilection,  more  than  once  ruling  Stephen  Foster 
out  of  order  while  speaking,  and  once  even  calling  our 
invited  guest,  Mr.  Garrison,  down  for  what  he  termed 
irrelevancy.  Still  he  was  next  day  re-elected  presi 
dent,  the  society  wishing  to  avoid  the  very  appearance 
of  proscription.- 

In  the  following  autumn,  the  Deerfield  Association 
of  Ministers,  Mr.  Curtis  a  leading  member,  issued  a 
call  for  a  convention  of  Congregational  and  Presby 
terian  ministers  and  churches,  for  the  purpose  as  was 
declared,  of  correcting  a  mistake  existing  at  the  south, 
relative  to  the  position  of  the  New  Hampshire 
churches  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  The  convention 
met  in  Concord  and  sat  two  days  and  then  quite  por 
tentously  adjourned  to  meet  in  Concord  on  the  day 
preceding  the  next  anniversary  day  of  the  state  society. 
The  motive  for  such  adjournment  could  not  be  mis 
taken  ;  Mr.  Curtis  was  president  of  that  convention, 
and  as  such,  was  careful  and  prompt  to  have  season 
able  notice  given  of  the  adjourned  meeting.  At  the 
same  time  he  sent  to  the  congregational  organ  of  New 
Hampshire,  then  The  Panoply,  a  call  over  his  own 
name,  addressed  "  to  the  sound,  judicious  and  enlight 
ened  abolitionists  of  New  Hampshire,"  summoning 
them  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  state  anti-slavery 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  115 

society,  and  save  it  from  being  perverted  to  unworthy 
purposes.  And  a  request  accompanied  this  call,  that 
when  the  Panoply  had  copied  it,  it  be  sent  to  the 
Herald  of  Freedom. 

The  call  to  the  Concord  convention  of  ministers  and 
churches,  issued  by  the  Deerfield  Association,  included 
the  editor  of  the  Herald,  and  Stephen  Foster,  both  of 
whom  were  still  church  members.  Early  in  the 
second  session,  Mr.  Rogers  offered  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  cordially  approve 
of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  and  kindred 
organizations  ;  and  the  direct  and  proper  way  of 
assuring  our  southern  brethren  that  we  are  not  in 
favor  of  slavery,  is  to  unite  with  these  organizations 
for  its  overthrow. 

That  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  The  resolu 
tion  limiting  membership  to  the  convention  to  minis 
ters  and  male  church  members,  excluding  women,  was 
adopted.  Mr.  Foster  asked  for  the  yeas  and  nays, 
and  the  vote  stood  forty  to  twenty-six  against  women 
membership.  So  when  the  roll  was  called,  the  names 
of  women  were  passed  over.  Late  on  the  second  day 
of  the  convention,  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Rogers  was 
taken  from  the  table,  amended  and  passed. 

But  the  editor  of  the  Panoply,  Rev.  David  Kimball, 
himself  a  member  of  the  convention,  in  his  leading 
editorial,  published  with  the  convention  proceedings, 
declared  that  more  than  half  the  members  were  gone 
when  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Rogers  was  taken  up,  and 
so  there  was  not  a  fair  expression  of  the  minds  of  the 
convention.  Which  was  doubtless  true.  And  an 
other  thing  was  also  true.  Only  a  very  small  num 
ber  of  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  ministers 
of  the  state  cared  enough  about  the  anti-slavery  cause 
to  attend  the  convention  as  friends  or  foes.  Less 
than  forty-five  of  the  two  hundred  and  thirty  towns  in 


Il6  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

the  state  had  any  representation,  and  more  than  half 
of  them,  probably,  were  represented  only  by  laymen, 
though  several  sent  women,  only  to  be  rejected.  And 
another  fact  is  as  patent  as,  and  more  significant  than, 
the  rest.  Only  the  very  best  of  the  clergy,  those  who 
had  shown  most  friendliness  toward  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  were  present  at  all.  And  some  of  them 
soon  became,  and  so  continued,  our  most  inveterate 
enemies.  The  last  resolution  which  the  convention 
adopted  unanimously  read: 

Resolved,  That  as  long  as  ministers  and  church 
members  continue  in  the  sin  of  slave-holding,  we  feel 
it  our  duty  to  withhold  from  them  Christian  fellowship 
and  commuion. 

What  that  resolution  implied  shall  be  referred  to 
Rev.  Mr.  Curtis,  who  was  president  of  that  conven 
tion,  and  at  that  time  of  the  New  Hampshire  anti- 
slavery  society,  to  explain  and  declare.  He  had  for 
some  years  been  active  in  measures  for  a  pretended 
severance  of  church  fellowship  between  the  north  and 
south,^through  the  missionary,  Bible  and  other  simi 
lar  cooperating  organizations,  including  also  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  the 
Congregational  churches  of  New  England.  What 
kind  of  separation  he  intended  is  seen  by  an  extract 
of  a  letter  of  his  own  in  the  Congregational  Journal 
at  the  time,  to  this  effect: 

My  advice  was,  to  dissolve  all  connection  with  the 
General  Assembly,  as  a  body,  while  they,  as  a  body, 
sanction  slavery.  I  do  not  perceive  that  such  a  meas 
ure  need  at  all  decide  the  question,  or  make  it  doubtful, 
whether  individual  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
churches  should  continue  in  the  kindest  fellowship 
towards  one  another,  when  neither  professes  any  sym 
pathy  for  slavery.  Let  the  individual  fellowship  of 
the  churches  be  left  to  their  own  regulation,  as  it  must 
be  left. 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  117 

That  was  the  kind  of  excision  contemplated  by  Mr. 
Curtis,  who  represented  the  most  radical  anti-slavery 
wing  of  the  New  Hamsphire  and  of  the  New  Eng 
land  Congregational  pulpit  and  church.  Cut  off  the 
General  assembly  as  such,  refuse  cooperation  with 
Bible  and  missionary  societies  as  such,  but  retain  sac 
ramental  and  other  communion  with  the  "  individual 
Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches  "  composing 
them  as  before  !  A  surgical  operation  never  con 
templated  at  the  school  of  Salerno,  nor  any  other  med 
ical  institution  since.  But  even  such  action  was  not 
taken.  The  advice  of  Mr.  Curtis  was  never  accepted 
nor  respected  to  any  observable  extent.  The  fellow 
ship  continued  as  before. 

But  readers  may  have  forgotten  that  this  episode  of 
explanatory  history  commenced  back  in  the  town  of 
Pittsfield,  where  the  anti-slavery  lecturers  and  the 
editor  of  the  Herald  encountered  in  an  unusual  degree 
the  baneful  influence  of  a  professing  anti-slavery  minis 
ter.  Mr.  Bodwell,  of  Sanbornton  Square,  made  no  anti- 
slavery  pretentions  ;  nor  did  Mr.  Corser  at  the  Bridge, 
where  the  pulpit  cushions  were  "  daubed  with  such 
untempered  mortar,"  as  if  typifying  the  quality  of  the 
gospel  preached  there.  But  the  sacramental  fellow 
ship  was  as  real  and  constant  with  them  as  with  the 
most  radical  anti-slavery  church  members  and  minis 
ters  in  the  land  And  the  same  Christian  embrace  was 
extended  to  all  the  individual  churches  and  clergy 
composing  the  General  assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  as  well. 

Our  Pittsfield  meeting  was  held  in  the  basement, 
vestry  of  the  Free  Will  Baptist  church,  the  only  build 
ing  in  the  town  to  which  uncompromising  anti-slavery 
could  be  admitted.  The  Free  Will  minister,  Rev.  Mr. 
Cilley,  attended,  as  did  a  very  few  members  of  his. 


Il8  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

church  ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCrillis,  who  kindly  enter 
tained  us  while  in  town,  of  course  among  them.  Rev. 
Mr.  Curtis  and  his  new  organized  church  and  society 
kept  carefully  aloof.  The  account  given  of  our  recep 
tion  and  experiences  there  by  the  editor  of  the  Herald, 
might  be  too  long  to  reproduce  here,  but  a  few 
excerpts  can  hardly  be  spared.  And  the  more  because 
Pittsfield  was  pre-eminently  a  representative  town, 
anti-slaverywise,  under  the  newly  organized  type  of 
the  doctrine,  and  Mr.  Curtis  and  his  church  and  people 
of  the  very  best  membership,  as  well  in  New  York 
and  New  England  as  New  Hampshire.  So  in  what 
follows,  Mr.  Rogers  spoke  really  of  the  whole  Congre 
gational  and  Presbyterian  churches  of  the  northern 
states  : 

We  groped  our  way  to  the  underground  meeting, 
where  we  found  assembled  anti-slavery's  accustomed 
numbers — a  full  dozen  of  the  surviving  heart  of  Pitts- 
field.  Brother  Cilley  was  among  them.  Brother 
Curtis  came  not  also  among  us.  He  was  said  to  have 
been  at  a  school  exhibition  in  the  town,  and  in  uncom 
mon  flow  of  spirits  ;  as  merry,  according  to  the 
account,  he  must  have  been  as  Herod  the  night  of 
John's  beheading,  and  as  regardless  of  the  despised 
and  infidel  meeting  going  on  in  the  little  Free  Will 
vestry  as  that  festive  monarch  was  of  the  scenes  in  the 
prison  of  the  Baptist.  •*  *  *  We  wondered  if 
brother  Curtis  did  not  now  and  then  think  of  our 
anti-slavery  meeting,  amid  the  gay  festivities  of  his 
exhibition.  And  when  he  went  home  to  his  evening 
devotions,  did  not  that  meeting  intrude  into  his  solemn 
fancy  ?  And  when  he  laid  his  head  upon  his  pillow 
that  night,  did  not  that  meeting  occur  again  to  his 
unquiet  remembrance  ?  Nay,  in  his  night  visions  did 
it  not  usurp  the  place  of  that  joyous  exhibition  ?  And 
in  the  morning  when  he  went  through  his  reverend 
services  at  the  altar,  did  not  that  intrusive  meeting 
interrupt  the  even  tenor  of  his  solemnities,  and  more 
than  once  occur  during  his  "long  prayer?"  He 


DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION.  119 

knows.  Sundry  women  were  in  our  meeting,  and  some 
others  of  brethren.  We  could  scarcely  have  fallen 
short  of  a  dozen.  We  took  up  the  comparative  claims 
of  the  anti-slavery  and  new  organization  societies, 
mainly  for  the  sake  of  brother  Cilley  (not  yet  quite  new 
organized)  ;  read  over  the  creed  of  new  organization, 
as  set  forth  in  the  New  Hampshire  Abolition  Society 
constitution,  and  found  it  extremely  extraneous.  We 
were  astonished  at  its  impudent  charges  against  anti- 
slavery,  and  its  open  and  shameless  commission  of  the 
very  offences  it  had  falsely  charged  upon  us.  Brother 
Cilley  seemed  hardly  satisfied  after  all  on  "  the  woman 
question."  The  propriety  of  woman's  acting  on  com 
mittees  seemed  to  worry  his  mind.  We  had  supposed 
that  in  the  Free  Will  church  woman's  sphere  was  as 
broad  as  man's,  and  that  that  order  thought  it  no 
shame  for  a  woman  to  speak  in  a  meeting,  but  an 
honor  rather  and  a  duty.  Brother  Cilley  had  scruples, 
however,  as  to  the  propriety.  *  *  *  Anti-slavery 
leaves  woman  and  man  and  child  free  to  equal  action. 
Freewillism  obliges  woman  to  speak,  while  it  only 
expects  man,  thus  maintaining  the  darling  masculine 
prerogative  and  superiority.  Sister  McCrillis  rose  at 
length,  after  the  evening  was  well  nigh  spent,  and  she 
had  not  once  opened  her  lips,  and  very  significantly 
asked  permission  to  go  home.  Her  question  seemed  a 
poser  to  brother  Cilley's  queries  as  to  the  proprieties, 
and  we  thought  at  once  relieved  him  of  them  all.  The 
noble  woman  and  her  female  fellow-attendants  went 
out,  leaving  us  quite  ashamed  of  the  idea  of  question 
ing  the  right  or  the  propriety  of  woman's  doing  in  an 
anti-slavery  meeting  as  she  thinks  best. 

What  is  exactly  true  of  the  connection  of  the  north 
ern  Congregational,  Presbyterian,  and  other  large 
evangelical  Christian  bodies,  acting  together  as  Bible, 
missionary  and  tract  societies  and  associations,  is,  there 
never  was  any  real  separation  ;  in  the  large  bodies 
they  all  acted  together.  •  Individual  churches  some 
times  for  themselves,  made  protest  and  even  a  feeble 
form  of  separation.  But  Mr.  Curtis,  one  of  the  most 


120  CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS, 

anti-slavery  ministers  among  them  all,  told  us  to  what 
purpose.  "  Let  the  individual  fellowship  of  the 
churches  be  left  to  themselves,"  he  said  after  cutting 
connexion  with  the  larger  ecclesiastical  bodies.  But 
even  that  to  any  effective  extent,  was  never  done. 

In  1842,  Judge  Birney  revised  and  made  more  con 
clusive  the  argument  in  his  work  entitled  "  The  Ameri 
can  Churches  the  Bulwarks  of  American  Slavery;" 
himself  a  leading  member  and  ruling  elder  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  when  the  book  was  written.  In 
1844,  appeared,  "The  Brotherhood  of  Thieves;  or  a 
True  Picture  of  the  American  Church  and  Clergy," 
taking  up  the  argument  where  Mr.  Birney  had  left  off, 
besides  greatly  strengthening  his,  by  multiplied  proofs 
from  the  same  sources. 

In  1847,  "  The  Church  as  It  Is  ;  the  Forlorn  Hope  of 
Slavery"  appeared,  bringing  the  action  of  the  churches 
and  clergy  on  the  slavery  question  down  to  that  time. 
A  peculiarity  of  all  these  books  was,  the  churches  and 
ministers  furnished  the  testimony,  so  that  they  were 
judged  by  their  own  words  and  works.  A  division 
occurred  in  the  general  conference  of  the  Methodist 
church.  But  the  south,  not  the  north,  separated. 
And  there  still  remained  seven  or  eight  annual  con 
ferences  in  the  northern  division,  the  boundaries  dis 
tinctly  discribed  in  the  Book  of  Discipline.  And  on 
slavery  the  books  of  north  and  south  read  exactly 
alike,  and  it  was  shown  clearly  by  Methodist  testi 
mony  that  there  were  still  thousands  of  slave-holders 
and  many  thousand  slaves  in  the  northern  general 
conference.  The  one  unquestionable  fact  was,  that 
though  there  were  exceptions  to  the  fearful  charge, 
the  system  of  slavery  was  supported  by  the  govern 
ment  and  sanctified  by  the  religion  of  the  nation,  till 
the  Infinite  Patience  could  bear  it  no  longer.  The 


CONVENTIONS    AND    MEETINGS.  121 

trump  of  the  avenging  angel  first  sounded  at  Fort 
Sumter,  summoning  north  and  south  to  their  judgment 
day.  Nor  could  the  dread  call  be  resisted.  At  the 
memorable  field  of  Bull  Run  the  two  armies  met  face 
to  face.  It  was  on  a  beautiful  summer  Sunday  morn 
ing.  The  northern  and  the  southern  states,  regiments 
of  Baptists,  Congregationalists,  Methodists,  Presby 
terians,  Episcopalians,  from  Maine  to  Michigan  ;  regi 
ments  of  the  same  denominations  were  up  to  meet 
them  from  the  shores  of  the  Mexican  gulf  to  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line.  Many  of  both  armies  must  have 
sometime  sat  together  at  the  sacramental  supper-tables 
of  the  same  denominational  faith.  But  now  their 
hour  had  come.  Now  the  warnings,  entreaties  and 
expostulations  of  the  faithful  abolitionists  were  ended, 
and  their  terrible  predictions  were  to  be  fulfilled.  On 
that  bright  Sunday  the  two  armies  met  in  battle  array. 
Avenging  Justice  beheld  them,  and  seizing  the  one  in 
His  right  hand  the  other  in  His  left,  dashed  them  to 
gether,  dashed  them  in  pieces,  and  gave  frightful 
multitudes  of  them  their  last  sacrament  ;  not  any  more 
in  the  blood  of  slaves  sold  for  wine  of  communion, 
but  in  the  steaming  battle  blood  of  each  other  ! 

For  days  both  sides  claimed  a  victory.  The  rebel 
commander-in-chief  sent  to  his  congress  at  Richmond 
forthwith  dispatches  dated  Sunday  night,  and  com 
mencing  thus  :  "The  night  has  closed  upon  a  hard 
fought  field.  The  enemy  were  routed,  and  precipi 
tately  fled,  abandoning  a  large  amount  of  arms,  knap 
sacks  and  baggage.  The  ground  was  strewn  for  miles 
with  those  killed,  and  the  farm-houses  and  grounds 
around  were  filled  with  the  wounded.  Pursuit  was 
continued  along  several  routes  till  darkness  covered 
the  fugitives." 


122  DIGRESSION    ON    NEW    ORGANIZATION. 

Let  readers  mark  those  words,  "the  fugitives."  New 
England,  Boston  even,  had  many  noble  sons  in  that 
fight  ;  and  only  a  little  while  before  New  England, 
and  even  Boston,  was  returning  fugitive  slaves  to  their 
masters.  Who  was  He  who  once  said,  "  With  what 
measure  ye  meet,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again  ?" 
And  what  the  Boston  pulpit,  what  Andover  Theologi 
cal  Seminary  said,  what  nearly  every  evangelical  doc 
tor  of  divinity  taught  on  the  duty  of  returning  fugi 
tive  slaves,  shall  be  shown  in  some  future  chapter  of 
these  fearful  chronicles. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

ACTS  CONTINUED,  WITH  PERSONAL   SKETCH    OF   STEPHEN 
SYMONDS  FOSTER. 

The  last  chapter  contained  an  account  of  a  sally 
into  the  lecturing  field  in  which  Mr.  Foster  and  myself 
were  accompanied  by  our  inestimable  coadjutor,  Mr. 
Rogers,  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom.  My  next  cam 
paign  was  with  Foster  alone,  and  as  some  account  of 
Mr.  Garrison  and  Mr.  Rogers  has  been  given,  it  may 
be  proper  to  advert  briefly  to  some  of  the  more  general 
incidents  in  the  early  life  of  Stephen  S.  Foster.  It 
has  been  already  intimated  that  in  this  work  only  the 
acts  of  a  small  number  of  the  anti-slavery  apostles  can 
be  even  named.  There  were  many,  both  men  and 
women,  whose  separate  faithful  labors,  patient  endur 
ance  of  privations,  perils,  sacrifices  and  sufferings, 
earned  for  each  one  a  volume  larger  and  abler  than 
this  can  possibly  be.  Men  and  women  whose  very 
names  should  only  be  spoken  by  those  of  cleanest  lips 
and  purest  hearts. 

Mr.  Foster  was  born  in  Canterbury,  New  Hamp 
shire,  in  November,  1809,  son  of  Colonel  Asa  Foster, 
of  revolutionary  days.  He  was  the  ninth  child  of  a 
family  of  thirteen. 

The  old  Foster  homestead  is  in  the  north  part  of 
Canterbury,  on  a  beautiful  hillside,  overlooking  a  long 
stretch  of  the  Merrimack  river  valley,  including  Con 
cord,  and  a  wide  view  east  and  west,  as  well  as  south. 
It  includes  several  hundred  acres,  and  is  still  owned 
by  one  of  the  Foster  brothers. 


124  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

Stephen  left  it  early  and  learned  the  trade  of  a  car 
penter  and  builder.  In  that,  however,  he  did  not  come 
to  his  life  occupation.  His  parents  were  most  devout 
and  exemplary  members  of  the  Congregational  church, 
to  which  he  also  was  joined  in  youthful  years.  At 
that  time  the  call  for  ministers  and  missionaries,  espe 
cially  to  occupy  the  new  opening  field  at  the  west, 
called  then  "  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,"  was 
loud  and  earnest.  At  twenty-two  he  heard  and  heeded 
it,  and  immediately  entered  on  a  course  of  collegiate 
study  to  that  end,  and  it  is  only  just  to  say  that  a  more 
consistent,  conscientious,  divinely  consecrated  spirit 
never  set  itself  to  prepare  for  that  then  counted  holiest 
of  callings.  Though  assenting  to  the  creed  and  cov 
enant  of  his  denomination,  his  whole  rule  of  practical 
life  and  work  was  the  "  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  as 
interpreted  and  illustrated  in  the  life  and  death  of  its 
author. 

With  him  "  Love  your  enemies"  was  more  than 
words,  and  "  Resist  not  evil"  was  not  returning  evil, 
nor  inflicting  penalties  under  human  enactments.  And 
he  went  early  to  prison  for  non-appearance  at  military 
parade,  armed  with  weapons  of  death. 

In  Dartmouth  College  he  was  called  to  perform  mil 
itary  service.  On  Christian  principles  he  declined, 
and  was  arrested  and  dragged  away  to  jail.  So  bad 
were  the  roads  that  a  part  of  the  way  the  sheriff  was 
compelled  to  ask  him  to  leave  the  carriage  and  walk. 
He  would  cheerfully  have  walked  all  the  way,  as  once 
did  George  Fox,  good  naturedly  telling  the  officer, 
"  Thee  need  not  go  thyself  ;  send  thy  boy,  I  know 
the  way  ;"  for  Foster  feared  no  prison  cells/  He  had 
earnest  work  in  hand  which  led  through  many  of  them 
in  subsequent  years. 


SKETCH  'OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  125 

Eternal  Goodness  might  have  had  objects  in  view 
in  sending  him  to  Haverhill,  for  he  found  the  jail  in  a 
condition  to  demand  the  hand  of  a  Hercules,  as  in  the 
"  Augaean  "  stables  for  its  cleansing.  His  companions 
there  were  poor  debtors,  as  well  as  thieves,  murderers, 
and  lesser  felons.  One  man  so  gained  his  confidence 
as  to  whisper  in  his  ear  that  on  his  hands  was  the  blood 
of  murder,  though  none  knew  it  but  himself.  Another 
poor  wretch  had  been  so  long  confined  by  illness  to 
his  miserable  bed,  that  it  literally  swarmed  with  vermin, 
crawling  from  his  putrid  sores. 

Foster  wrote  and  sent  to  the  world  such  a  letter  as 
few  but  he  could  write,  awakening  general  horror 
and  indignation  wherever  it  was  read,  and  a  cleansing 
operation  was  forthwith  instituted.  The  filth  on 
the  floor  was  found  so  deep  and  so  hard  trodden,  that 
strong  men  had  to  come  with  pick-axes  and  dig  it  up. 
And  that  jail  was  not  only  revolutionized,  but  the 
whole  prison  system  of  the  state  from  that  time  began 
to  be  reformed  ;  and  imprisonment  for  debt  was  soon 
heard  of  here  no  more. 

His  college  studies  closed,  he  entered,  for  a  theo 
logical  course,  the  Union  Seminary  in  New  York. 
Soon  afterward  there  was  threatened  war  between  our 
country  and  Great  Britain,  over  a  short  stretch  of  the 
northeastern  boundary  line,  about  which  the  two 
nations  had  disputed  for  half  a  century.  Wholly 
opposed  to  war  as  was  he,  for  any  cause,  he  and  a 
few  of  his  friends  proposed  a  meeting  for  prayer  and 
conference,  in  relation  to  it  as  then  menaced.  Foster 
asked  for  the  use  of  a  lecture  room  for  their  purpose, 
but  was  surprised  as  much  as  grieved  to  find  the  sem 
inary  faculty  not  only  opposed  to  granting  the  use  of 
the  room,  but  sternly  against  the  holding  of  any  such 
meeting. 


126  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

That  refusal,  probably  more  than  t  any  other  one 
event,  determined  his  whole  future  course.  For  while 
in  college  he  had  had  many  serious  doubts  and  mis 
givings  as  to  the  claim  of  the  great  body  of  the  Ameri 
can  church  and  clergy  to  the  Christian  name  and 
character  ;  not  only  because  of  their  supporting  war 
and  approval  of  his  incarceration  for  peace  principles, 
but  also  for  their  persistent  countenance  of  slave- 
holding  and  fellowship  of  even  slave-breeders  and 
slave-holders,  as  Christians  and  Christian  ministers. 

In  1839,  Mr.  Foster  abandoned  all  hope  of  the  Con 
gregational  ministry,  and  entered  the  anti-slavery 
service,  side  by  side  with  Garrison,  of  the  Boston  Lib 
erator,  and  Nathaniel  Peabody  Rogers,  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Herald  of  Freedom.  And  from  that  time 
onward  till  slavery  was  abolished,  and  indeed  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  the  cause  of  freedom  and  humanity, 
justice  and  truth,  had  no  more  faithful,  few  if  any 
more  able  champions. 

In  the  autumn  of  1845,  he  married  Miss  Abby 
Kelley,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  then  a  well  and 
widely -known  lecturer  on  anti-slavery,  temperance, 
peace,  and  other  subjects  pertaining  to  the  rights  and 
the  welfare  of  man  and  womankind.  She  and  a 
daughter,  their  only  child,  survive  him.  The  daughter 
graduated  first  at  Vassar  College,  then  entered  Cor 
nell  University,  which  she  left  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
with  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 

I  first  saw  Stephen  Foster  in  the  autumn  of  1834. 
We  were  commencing  teaching  schools  in  adjoining 
districts  of  a  small  country  town.  A  "  revival  of 
religion"  soon  appeared  in  the  town,  and  was  emi 
nently  powerful  in  his  school,  if,  indeed,  it  did  not 
commence  there.  His  school  was  much  larger  than 
mine,  and  many  of  the  parents  were  members,  and 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  127 

some  of  them  officers,  of  the  Congregational  church. 
They  found  in  Mr.  Foster  a  teacher,  or  at  any  rate  a 
leader  in  religion,  as  well  as  in  the  literature  of  their 
school.  And  though  most  satisfactory  progress  was 
made  in  all  the  branches,  and  the  discipline  of  the 
school  was  deemed  throughout  of  the  very  best,  nearly 
every  scholar  of  or  above  fifteen  years  old  was  con 
verted  and  joined  the  Congregational  church  ;  and  then 
their  teacher  and  some  of  themselves  came  over  as 
missionaries  into  my  more  remote  and  benighted  dis 
trict,  and  quite  a  work  was  accomplished  there.  The 
venerable  minister  of  the  town  thought,  and  from  the 
standpoint,  and  in  the  light  of  that  day,  thought  truly, 
that,  "  with  young  Mr.  Foster,  evidently,  was  'the 
secret  of  the  Lord  !'  "  And  that  same  characteristic 
faithfulness  he  brought  with  him  into  the  anti-slavery 
cause.  And  soon  learning  where  was  the  great,  deep, 
tap-root  of  the  deadly  upas,  he  laid  the  axe  at  the  root 
of  the  tree. 

His  encounters  with  the  church  and  ministry,  the 
frequency  with  which  his  meetings  had  been  and  were 
still  broken  up  by  brutal  mobs,  not  unfrequently  jus 
tified  by  the  pulpit  and  religious  press,  had  made  him 
a  disciple  to  the  Birney  doctrine,  "The  American 
Churches  the  Bulwarks  of  American  Slavery,"  long 
before  this  startling  tract  had  come  before  the  public. 

Mr.  Birney's  experiences  with  the  same  power  sug 
gested  his  title  ;  but  a  few  years  later,  another  pam 
phlet  appeared  from  Foster's  own  pen,  entitled,  "The 
Brotherhood  of  Thieves  ;  or  a  True  Picture  of  the 
American  Church  and  Clergy."  Mr.  Birney  had 
already  proved  the  pertinence  and  propriety  of  such  a 
title  in  his  little  work  ;  but  in  a  ringing  book,  of  more 
than  seventy  pages,  Foster  showed,  by  super-abundant 
testimony,  and  every  single  witness  furnished  by  the 


128  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

church  itself,  that  if  slavery  were  man  stealing,  as  the 
Presbyterian  church  had  declared  it  forty  years  before, 
and  "the  highest  kind  of  theft"  then  surely  the  whole 
southern  church  was  indeed  a  vast  "Brotherhood  of 
Thieves  /"  with  their  northern  baptized  brethren,  who 
fellowshiped  them  as  Christians,  their  not  less  guilty 
accomplices  ! 

Mr.  Foster  therefore  made  the  popular,  prevailing 
religions  his  main  point  of  attack.  What  could  he 
have  done  otherwise  ?  The  churches  of  the  north 
were  opened  to  southern  slave-breeders,  slave-traders, 
slave-hunters,  and  slave-holders,  if  members  of  the 
same,  and  often  even  of  widely  different  denomina 
tions,  both  for  preaching,  baptizing  and  sacramental 
supper  occasions  and  purposes.  There  were  a  few 
exceptions  ;  but  not  enough  to  affect  the  general 
charge.  Northern  academies,  colleges,  universities, 
and  theological  seminaries,  toned  down  their  whole 
curriculum  of  moral  and  religious  training  and  teach 
ing  to  suit  the  depraved  demand  and  taste  of  the 
whole  brotherhood  of  southern  slave-holders.  And 
with  most  rare  exceptions,  the  northern  press  attuned 
itself  to  the  same  key. 

The  religious  public  soon  learned  to  dread  Mr.  Fos 
ter's  presence  or  approach.  Convicted  of  the  most 
malignant  pro-slaveryism,  and  by  its  own  public  records 
and  reports  of  proceedings  of  ecclesiastical  bodies  and 
associations,  from  general  assemblies,  general  confer 
ences,  and  American  Bible,  missionary  and  tract 
societies,  to  state  and  county  conferences  and  conso 
ciations,  they  had  good  reason  to  fear  such  a  judg 
ment-day  before  the  time. 

So  there  was  a  conspiracy  among  all  classes  of  the 
people  to  conquer  the  abolitionists,  "  by  letting  them 
severely  alone."  And  in  some  states  the  clergy  went 


SKETCH  OF  STEPHEN  S.  FOSTER.        129 

so  far  as  to  issue  pastoral  letters  to  the  churches, 
declaring  that  anti-slavery  lecturers  had  no  right  to 
invade  a  people  who  had  chosen  a  pastor  and  regularly 
inducted  him  into  office  ;  nor  had  such  a  people  any 
right  to  permit  it.  A  Massachusetts  clerical  mandate, 
duly  published  in  the  religious  papers,  signed  by  two 
congregational  ministers,  contained  this  paragraph  : 

When  a  people  have  chosen  a  pastor,  and  he  has 
been  regularly  inducted  into  office,  they  have  so  far 
surrendered  up  to  him  the  right  to  discharge  the 
appropriate  duties  of  his  office  in  the  parish  over  which 
he  is  settled,  that  they  themselves  can  not  send  another 
to  discharge  those  duties,  all  or  any  part  of  them, 
against  his  wishes,  without  an  evident  invasion  of  his 
territory.  Whoever  comes  before  a  parish  under  these 
circumstances  is  an  intruder.  And  equally  so  is  he 
who,  after  being  admitted  by  the  pastor,  sets  up  his 
judgment  in  matter  that  falls  properly  under  the  pas 
tor's  control.  These  are  both  acts  of  trespass,  and 
the  perpetrators  of  them  are  or  should  be  liable  to 
ecclesiastical  censure.  The  unfaithfulness  or  incapac 
ity  of  the  pastor  is  no  apology  for  the  offence. 

Nor  was  this  law  a  dead  letter  in  any  place  where  it 
could  possibly  be  enforced,  whether  in  Massachusetts 
or  anywhere  in  the  north  or  west. 

But  the  brave  faithfulness  of  Mr.  Foster  to  the 
enslaved  and  to  his  own  solemn  convictions,  soon  tri 
umphed  over  such  religious  despotism.  He  conceived 
the  idea  of  entering  the  meeting  houses  on  Sunday, 
and  at  the  hour  of  sermon,  respectfully  rising  and 
claiming  the  right  to  be  heard  then  and  there,  on  the 
duties  and  obligations  of  the  church  to  those  who  were 
in  bonds  at  the  south. 

This  measure  he  first  adopted  in  the  old  North 
church,  at  Concord,  in  September,  1841.  He  was 
immediately  seized  by  "three  young  gentlemen,  one 
a  southerner  from  Alabama,  and  the  other  two,  guards 


13°  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

at  the  state  prison,  thrust  along  the  broad  aisle  and 
violently  pushed  out  of  the  house."  A  full  account  of 
the  transaction  was  published  in  the  Herald  of  Freedom 
on  the  following  Friday,  iyth  of  the  same  month. 
But  Mr.  Foster  could  not  be  deterred  from  his  pur 
pose.  And  the  measure  proved  so  effective  as  a 
means  of  awakening  the  public  attention  to  the 
importance  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  that  others 
were  led  to  adopt  it.  Of  course  it  led  to  persecution, 
and  some  were  imprisoned  for  the  offence — Mr.  Foster 
as  many  as  ten  or  twelve  times,  in  New  Hampshire 
and  Massachusetts.  Perhaps  his  most  memorable 
experience  at  the  hands  of  the  civil  law,  at  the  time, 
was  in  Concord,  in  June,  -1842.  On  Sunday,  the 
twelfth  of  that  month,  being  in  Concord,  he  went  to 
the  South  church,  and  at  the  time  for  sermon  he  rose 
in  a  pew  at  the  side  of  the  pulpit,  and  commenced 
speaking  in  his  usual  solemn  and  deeply  impressive 
manner.  He  evidently  would  have  been  heard,  and 
with  deep  attention,  too,  for  many  in  the  house  not 
only  knew  him  well,  but  knew  that  this  was  a  course 
not  unusual  with  him,  and  one  in  the  rightfulness  of 
which  he  conscientiously  believed,  and,  besides,  was 
sometimes  able  to  make  most  useful  and  effective.. 
Even  the  Concord  Unitarian  society,  one  Sunday,  gave 
respectful  hearing ;  the  minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Tilden, 
inviting  him  to  speak. 

But  at  the  South  church,  it  was  not  so.  There  he 
was  seized  by  the  then  Secretary  of  State,  others 
assisting,  and  forthwith  carried  by  main  force  out  of 
the  house.  The  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom  was 
present  and  saw  the  whole  transaction,  and  in  his  next 
paper,  gave  a  remarkably  clear  and  full  report  of  it. 
It  is  well  worth  reading  and  even  study,  by  any  who- 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  13! 

would  understand  the  spirit  and  temper  of  those  tur 
bulent  times. 

As  the  whole  affair  was  conducted,  and  as  it  finally 
resulted,  it  was  not  inappropriately  called  in  the 
Herald,  a  mob.  "A  mob  in  the  sanctuary  called  the 
South  church.  House  ostentatiously  dedicated  to  the 
worship  of  God.  A  mob  begun  in  the  pulpit  by  the 
anointed  embassador  of  'the  prince  of  peace,'  in 
midst  of  professed  Christian  worship  !" 

At  the  close  of  the  long  prayer  of  morning  service, 
during  which,  in  those  days,  the  congregation  all  rev 
erently  rose  and  stood,  Foster  remained  standing  and 
when  the  people  were  seated,  he  commenced  in  low, 
solemn  and  devout  manner  to  say  that  he  wished  to 
speak  a  few  words  in  behalf  of  two  and  a  half  millions 
of  our  kidnapped  and  enslaved  countrymen.  Nearly 
all  appeared  deeply  attentive,  and  the  scene  was  pro 
foundly  serious  and  impressive,  as  became  the  hour, 
the  place  and  the  theme. 

But  instantly,  the  minister  from  the  pulpit  called 
out  with  much  anger,  "  Mr.  Foster,  we  must  not  be 
disturbed  in  our  worship  !  "  At  the  same  time  a  man 
high  in  authority,  stalked  across  the  house  in  front  of 
the  pulpit  and  seized  him  by  the  arm.  But  he  had 
laid  violent  hand  on  no  brawling  disturber  of  the 
peace,  nor  of  worship,  but  the  equal  in  every  way  of 
the  minister,  and  morally  and  spiritually,  vastly  his 
superior,  as  every  moment  demonstrated  more  and 
more.  He  was  perfectly  serene,  gentle,  orderly  and 
respectful  ;  and  that  seemed  the  more  to  waken  the 
pulpit  indignation.  He  mildly  asked  the  officer,  who 
as  yet  confronted  him  alone,  if  such  conduct  as  his 
became  a  Christian,  and  if  Jesus  Christ  ever  interrupted 
respectful  speaking  in  such  a  way,  or  forced  anybody 
out  of  the  house  only  for  speaking  ?  But  the  people 


132  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

must  not  be  permitted  to  hear  him  ;  and  as  no  one  yet 
had  come  to  the  rescue  with  the  officer,  he  called  up  to 
the  choir  to  set  the  music  going  to  silence  him.  Fos 
ter  responded  that  he  hoped  the  choir  would  not  resort 
to  such  means  to  silence  his  voice  ;  or  if  they  should, 
they  could  not  repress  the  truth.  But  before  this  was 
all  uttered,  the  music  was  set  going  in  full  diapason 
with  all  the  spite  of  the  vilest  mob. 

The  music,  of  course,  blasphemously  silenced  Fos 
ter  ;  but  while  it  was  performing,  the  officer,  in  true 
posse  comitatus  manner  and  spirit,  ordered  up  the  sex 
ton  and  several  others,  chiefly  church  members,  if  not 
wholly,  and  some  of  them  new  organized  abolitionists, 
and  seizing  hold  of  him,  carried  him  by  main  brute 
force  out  of  the  house,  he  making  no  resistance  nor 
proffering  any  resistance  by  using  his  own  strength  or 
limbs. 

It  was  said  in  defense  of  the  infamous  act  : 
"  They  carried  him  gently  out  !"  To  that  Mr.  Rogers 
responded  the  same  week  in  the  Herald  of  Freedom  to 
this  effect  : 

Yes,  very  gently.  They  did  not  use  a  particle  of 
brute  force,  beyond  what  was  necessary  to  effect  their 
brute  purpose.  But  remember  they  laid  hands  on  a 
man  and  put  him  out  of  a  house  before  all  of  the  con 
gregation,  against  his  will,  in  contempt  of  his  right  of 
speech,  and  in  the  deepest  intended  dishonor  of  his 
person.  The  officer  would  have  struck  any  man  dead 
who  had  thus  profaned  his  official  person.  So  would 
that  reverend  minister.  I  thought  the  officer  might 
refrain  from  Foster  while  he  remained  silent.  All  was 
hush,  save  the  devout  music  ;  that  had  restored  the 
interrupted  worship  and  it  was  solemnly  going  on. 
But  they  feared  Foster  might  speak  by  and  by,  and  so 
thought  they  would  put  him  out  by  anticipation. 
*  *  *  They  laid  hold  of  Foster  when  he  was  stand 
ing  perfectly  still  (whether  he  had  a  right  to  speak  or 
no  right),  when  all  was  hushed  but  the  clamor  in  the 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  133 

gallery,  and  lawlessly  conveyed  him  out  of  the  house 
of  God.  He  meekly  submitted  to  the  infamous  indig 
nity.  The  minister  looked  on  with  all  clerical  com 
placency,  from  his  curtained  elevation.  Nero  would 
hardly  have  looked  on  with  more  when  he  fiddled  at 
the  burning  of  Rome.  They  laid  their  sacrilegious 
hands  on  Foster.  I  care  not  that  they  handled  him 
gently.  The  outrage  is  that  they  handled  him  at  all. 
It  was  an  outrage  most  abhorrent  to  human  feelings. 
The  very  law  abhors  it,  sprung,  as  it  was,  from  the 
dark  ages  of  feudal  England,  and  punishes  its  slight 
est  touch  of  a  man.  But  ecclesiastical  supremacy 
knows  no  law.  They  trampled  law  under  foot ;  and 
had  they  been  outraging  a  man  wicked  as  themselves, 
he  would  visit  it  upon  them.  But  Foster  is  a  Chris 
tian,  and  they  are  safe.  It  was  a  flagrant  breach  of 
the  peace,  and  a  highly  gross  assault  and  battery, 
aggravated  by  outrage  of  the  right  of  speech.  *  *  * 
I  saw  Foster  in  their  hands.  It  was  an  unusual  sight. 
It  was  an  abhorrent,  unnatural  sight.  It  was  as  a 
lamb  in  the  hands  of  wolves.  His  countenance  beamed 
with  magnanimous  Christian  expression.  Several  of 
the  congregation  indignantly  left  the  house  ;  I  was 
among  the  number.  At  the  bottom  of  the  entrance 
stairs  I  found  the  abductors  in  a  state  of  guilty  agita 
tion,  on  the  verge  of  furious  excitement.  The  officers 
hard  breathing  and  most  vivaciously  at  work  shutting 
the  folding  doors  and  fastening  them.  *  *  *  I 
could  not  help  exclaiming,  shame  on  you  friends  ; 
shame  on  you  for  your  conduct  !  "  Do  you  want  to 
go  out  or  stay  in,  Mr.  Rogers,"  said  the  excited  officer. 
Go  out,  of  course,  said  I,  out  of  such  a  house  as  this. 
They  shut  all  the  doors  and  bolted  them  behind  them 
with  most  cowardly  care.  We  walked  away  pondering 
on  the  spirit  of  the  worship  we  had  left.  Some  women 
who  came  out  after  us  found  the  doors  locked,  and 
had  to  go  out  through  a  round-about-way  to  a  postern 
which  was  also  locked  from  terror  of  Foster. 

All  this  transpired  at  the  morning  service.  In  the 
afternoon,  Mr.  Foster  felt  constrained  to  enter  the 
church  again  and  attempt  to  speak  a  few  words  before 


134  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

the  services  commenced.  All  of  his  friends  discour 
aged  the  attempt  ;  even  Mr.  Rogers  counselled  against 
it.  He  said  he  would  no  more  go  into  that  South 
church  with  those  murderous  stone  stairs  at  the  out 
let,  than  he  would  walk  into  the  Spanish  inquisi 
tion.  But  Foster  answered  in  the  very  spirit  of  the 
heroic  apostle,  Paul,  when  he  asked  his  less  brave 
brethren,  "  What  mean  ye  to  weep  and  to  break  my 
heart,  for  I  am  ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also 
to  die  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  And  he  went 
again  in  the  afternoon  up  those  same  "  murderous 
stone  stairs." 

He  commenced  speaking  as  soon  as  he  entered,  and 
before  the  performances  had  begun.  Immediately 
some  young  men,  without  order  or  authority  even  from 
the  pulpit,  most  ferociously  seized  him,  dragged  him 
down  the  aisle  and  cast  him  down  as  far  as  the  broad 
stairs  of  the  ascent,  from  which  he  was  forthwith,  in 
the  very  spirit  of  most  malignant  murder,  hurled  down 
the  entire  stairway  ;  and  then  with  kicks,  hair-pulling 
and  other  indignities,  thrown  out  on  the  ground.  By 
this  time  the  whole  entrance  was  thronged  with  a 
violent  vociferating  mob,  furiously,  and  some  pro 
fanely,  defending  the  sacredness  of  the  meeting-house. 
Foster,  pale,  faint  and  disabled,  lay  on  the  ground, 
still  at  the  mercy  of  the  mob.  Some  of  us  took  him 
up  and  tenderly  assisted  him  to  the  then  hospitable 
home  near  by,  of  Amos  and  Louisa  Wood.  Mr.  Wood 
soon  arrived  and  told  us  that  after  the  outrage  on 
Mr.  Foster,  he  had  risen  in  his  pew  to  protest  against 
such  proceedings,  and  that  the  same  officer  who  con 
ducted  the  attack  in  the  morning  rushed  upon  him, 
and  with  others  thrust  him  also,  although  a  member 
of  the  church,  out  of  the  house. 

Mr.  Foster  appeared  so  seriously  injured  that   we 


SKETCH  OF  STEPHEN  S.  FOSTER.        135 

deemed  it  advisable  to  summon  a  physician.  So  it 
fell  on  me  to  return  and  venture  up  the  broad  aisle  of 
that  same  perilous  sanctuary,  and  call  a  doctor  from 
the  base  of  the  pulpit  itself.  No  bones  were  broken 
nor  dislocated ;  but  bruises  and  sprains  rendered 
walking  difficult  and  painful  for  several  weeks. 

But  only  the  tragic  portion  of  this  wondrous  spec 
tacle  has  yet  been  told.  A  farce  followed  more  re 
markable  still,  for  the  church  and  pulpit  counted  their 
grievance  so  great  as  even  to  appeal  to  the  civil  courts 
for  redress.  They  well  knew  their  victims  were  non- 
resistants,  both  Mr.  Wood  and  Mr.  Foster,  whose 
rights  they  had  so  atrociously  infringed,  not  to  speak 
of  bodily  ills  inflicted,  especially  on  Foster.  Both 
were  Christians  in  the  sense  and  meaning  of  the  Ser 
mon  on  the  Mount.  Both  suffered  imprisonment  in 
our  then  loathsome  jails,  rather  than  perform  military 
service  or  pay  fines  in  money  for  non-appearance  on 
the  murder-meaning,  murder-breeding  muster  field. 
So  a  suit  at  law  would  be  perfectly  safe  at  the  worst. 
And  a  suit  was  commenced  on  Monday  afternoon. 
Foster,  only  able  to  move  about  on  a  cane,  was 
arrested  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Amos  Wood,  where  we 
had  taken  him  after  his  injury  at  the  hands  of  the  pul 
pit,  the  church  and  their  then  only  too  willing  outside 
defenders.  Several  of  us  had  been  informed  that  the 
arrest  was  to  be  made,  and  had  gathered  there  to  wit 
ness  the  doing  of  it. 

The  sheriff  was  a  most  kind  hearted  man,  and 
appeared  to  appreciate  properly  the  quality  of  the 
business  then  in  hand.  Entering  the  room  where  we 
were  sitting,  Mr.  Foster  in  an  invalid  chair,  he  ap 
proached  him,  warrant  in  hand,  and  said  :  "  Mr.  Fos 
ter,  I  have  authority  here  to  take  you  before  Judge 
Badger,  to  answer  to  a  charge  of  disturbing  public 


i36 

worship."  Probably  these  are  not  the  exact  words 
spoken,  but  Foster,  in  the  mildest  manner  possible, 
responded  :  "  I  do  not  know  of  any  business  between 
me  and  friend  Badger  requiring  my  attendance  to-day, 
and  must  decline  to  answer  to  your  call."  Of  course 
the  sheriff  insisted,  as  in  duty  bound,  but  in  manner 
and  spirit  that  contrasted  strangely  with  the  truly  mob 
demeanor  of  the  meeting-house  on  the  day  before. 
When  he  saw  that  if  Foster  went  he  must  be  carried, 
literally,  he  asked  some  of  us  present  if  we  would  be 
kind  enough  to  assist  him  in  bearing  him  out  to  his 
carriage,  which  we  naturally  declined.  Then  he  said 
he  should  have  to  call  in  other  aid.  Foster  good 
naturedly  suggested  thatf'the  minister  and  his  aids  of 
yesterday  would  be  the  proper  persons  on  whom  to 
call.  The  news  of  what  was  transpiring  by  this  time 
was  on  many  tongues  and  in  many  ears,  and  the  ex 
citement  on  the  street  was  not  small.  It  did  not  prove 
an  easy  matter  to  summon  the  posse  comitatus.  But 
finally  one  member  of  the  church,  and  a  working  man 
not  of  the  church,  came  in  with  the  officer,  and  taking 
Foster  gently  in  their  hands  and  arms  bore  him  bare 
headed  to  the  door  and  placed  him  on  the  carriage 
seat.  Foster,  Rogers  and  others  asked  the  non- 
church  member  why  he  didn't  let  the  church  do  her 
own  dirty  work  ?  And  the  sheriff  himself  instead  of 
arresting  us,  some  of  us  being  women,  too,  for  thus 
attempting  to  obstruct  the  purposes  of  justice,  only 
answered  that  it  was  "  a  very  unpleasant  duty  to  per 
form,"  which,  knowing  the  man  as  we  did,  we  well 
understood  before.  A  crowd  followed  the  prisoner  to 
the  judgment  hall.  It  was  on  the  second  story,  and 
the  stairway  being  narrow  it  was  truly  a  ludicrous 
operation  for  the  officer  and  his  posse  to  climb  it  with 
so  unseemly  a  burden.  Foster  said  afterwards  him- 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  137 

self  that  he  felt  rather  serious  than  otherwise,  till 
ascending  the  stairs,  feet  foremost  high  above  his 
head,  and  yet  handled  with  utmost  caution,  he  could 
not  help  laughing  outright,  and  did  not  recover  his 
gravity  again  through  the  whole  farcical  trial. 

As  the  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom  was  a  law 
yer  and  witnessed  the  court  proceedings,  probably 
readers  would  prefer  his  account  in  his  own  words. 
And  in  this  they  shall  be  gratified,  copied  literally,  a 
few  names  omitted,  from  his  columns  of  the  same 
week  : 

The  court  room  was  thronged.  Esquire  Badger 
took  his  seat  and  read  over  the  complaint  in  the  hear 
ing  of  Foster,  charging  him  with  "  rude  and  indecent 
behavior,"  etc.,  "force  and  arms,"  etc.,  in  the  usual 
rigmarole  of  a  criminal  process,  and  asked  him  : 
"  What  say  you,  Mr.  Foster,  are  you  guilty  or  not 
guilty  ?"  Foster  replied  :  "  Friend  Badger,  I  do  not 
recognize  you  as  my  judge,  nor  shall  I  answer  before 
you  as  a  culprit.  I  am  not  your  subject,  and  owe  you 
no  allegiance.  As  a  brother  man  and  equal  I  am 
willing  to  talk  with  you,  on  this  or  any  other  subject, 
but  not  as  a  magistrate."  Friend  Badger  said  the 
answer  was  not  such  as  he  wished.  He  wished  him 
to  say  whether  he  was  guilty  or  not  guilty.  Foster 
replied  that  he  had  his  answer,  and  must  put  such  con 
struction  on  it  as  he  saw  fit. 

The  first  witness  was  called  and  put  on  oath  to  tell 
the  truth.  It  did  not  use  to  strike  me  so  absurdly  to 
hear  a  man  sworn  to  tell  the  truth.  He,  the  witness, 
said  he  was  in  the  meeting  house,  saw  Mr.  Foster 
rise  to  speak,  and  Esquire  S.  immediately  go  to  him 
and  stop  him,  and  take  him  out  of  the  house.  When 
asked  if  he  did  not  interrupt  the  meeting  by  rude  and 
indecent  behavior,  etc.,  he  replied  that  he  did  not  hear 
what  he  said.  This  was  the  substance,  as  I  remember, 
of  his  testimony. 

Capt.  A.  M.  next  presented  himself  as  a  witness. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  church  that  dragged  Stephen 
out,  and  the  same  captain  who  shut  Amos  Wood  up 


138  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

in  the  Black  Hole  at  Hopkington,  winter  before  last, 
for  not  being  willing  to  train.  Captain  M.  S.'s  testi 
mony  was  in  effect  the  same  as  Captain  S.,  who  pre 
ceded.  He  didn't  hear  a  word  Foster  said  in  the  meet 
ing.  I  think  he  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  he  inter 
rupted,  or  disturbed  the  meeting  by  speaking,  but 
did  not  tell  what  he  said.  When  Captain  M.  retired, 
Captain  W.  came  forward.  Captain  W.  was  also  of 
the  South  church.  He  was  sworn.  He  seemed  com 
petent  to  give  all  necessary  testimony,  within  his 
knowledge,  and  not  unreasonably  backward  to  furnish 
it.  He  sat  close  by  Foster,  he  said,  in  the  meeting* 
house,  saw  him  stand  up,  and  heard  him  speak,  and 
thought  what  he  said  was  a  great  disturbance  of  the 
meeting,  etc.,  could  not  tell,  however,  what  he  said  ; 
not  a  single  word  of  it.  He  was  asked  if  Foster 
behaved  in  a  rude  and  indecent  manner.  Captain  W. 
thought  he  disturbed  the  meeting  very  much,  and  that 
his  speaking  was  contrary  to  the  regulations  of  the 
South  church.  Foster  asked  him  if  speaking  itself 
was  contrary  to  the  regulations,  and  when  he  said  not, 
asked  him  who  had  a  right  to  speak  there  ?  The  cap 
tain  answered,  nobody  but  the  minister.  Foster 
asked  him  if  it  would  be  contrary  to  the  regulations  of 
the  South  church  if  he  should  come  in  during  service 
time  and  give  an  alarm  of  fire  ?  The  captain  replied 
in  a  grave  manner  that  he  did  not  choose  to  enter  into 
that  kind  of  conversation.  But  you  are  a  witness, 
said  Foster,  and  must  answer  all  proper  questions. 
He,  however,  did  not  answer.  I  will  ask  another 
question,  said  Foster :  If  your  child  should  be  kid 
napped  and  carried  off  to  the  south,  and  I  should  learn 
of  it  in  service  time  of  the  South  church,  and  should 
come  in  and  give  the  alarm,  would  you  think  that  an 
interruption  ?  The  captain  appealed  to  the  court,  and 
I  think  he  was  told  he  must  answer  ;  for  he  did,  and 
as  I  understood  him  said  he  should  not  think  that  an 
interruption.  Suppose  then,  continued  Foster,  that 
two  and  a  half  millions  of  my  countrymen  should  be 
kidnapped  and  sold  into  slavery,  and  I  should  come 
in  in  time  of  service  and  give  the  alarm,  would  that  be 
violating  the  regulations  of  the  South  church  ?  The 


»      SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  139 

audience  manifested  great  satisfaction  at  Foster's 
questions.  The  captain  said  thereupon,  "  These  ques 
tions  are  asked  for  sport."  The  testimony  here  closed 
— not  a  word  being  sworn  to  of  what  Foster  said,  nor 
any  evidence  given  of  rude  or  indecent  behavior  on 
the  part  of  anybody  but  the  minister  and  the  officer 
who  first  laid  hands  on  Foster.  One  spectator  said> 
"  Discharge  him  ;  "  another,  as  he  left  the  room,  said, 
"  This  is  a  farcical  piece  of  business  ;  "  a  third  said, 
"  There  isn't  a  particle  of  evidence  against  Foster  ;  " 
still  another  asked  me,  "  What  will  the  court  do  ? " 
Convict,  I  answered.  "On  what  ground  ?  "  he  asked  : 
I  said  :  I  cannot  tell  on  what  ground,  I  only  think  he 
will  convict  him. 

Early  in  the  trial  Esquire  Whipple,  ( the  prosecutor ) 
read  the  law  on  which  the  complaint  was  founded. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  examination,  Foster  glanced 
his  eye  over  it  and  discovered  that  it  was  not  in  force, 
that  it  had  been  repealed.  He  observed  to  the  court 
pleasantly,  that  he  did  not  wish  to  interfere  in  their 
proceedings,  but  he  believed  they  were  trying  him 
upon  a  statute  that  was  not  in  force.  He  did  not  wish 
them  to  be  at  the  trouble  of  going  over  the  business 
twice,  he  said,  and  .he  had  not  the  time  to  spare  him 
self.  He  had  had  occasion  in  his  dealings  with  other 
churches  to  look  at  the  law,  and  told  them  what  it  was 
and  where  they  would  find  it.  Hereupon  a  burst  of 
applause  broke  from  all  parts  of  the  audience,  which 
lasted  considerable  time.  Esquire  Whipple  looked 
amused' and  Esquire  Badger  a  little  put  to  it.  How 
ever,  Foster  set  them  on  the  right  track  as  to  the  law, 
and  after  awhile  all  went  on  again.  Come  to  read  the 
law  through,  it  was  plain  as  noon-day  to  every  one 
that  it  contemplated  no  such  case  as  Foster's.  So 
they  had  no  law  against  him,  and  no  facts. 

Friend  Badger  then  went  out  and  was  gone  some 
minutes.  I  thought  it  might  be  to  consult  higher 
authorities  as  to  the  course  to  be  taken  with  a  criminal 
against  whom  there  was  neither  law  nor  proof.  Still, 
I  had  a  presentiment  he  would  convict.  He  returned 
and  resumed  his  seat.  He  asked  Mr.  Foster  if  he  had 
anything  to  say  in  his  defense.  Foster  replied, 


140  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

he  made  no  defense,  that  what  he  said  was  not 
said  to  the  court,  but  to  the  audience.  I  am  in 
your  power  I  know  —  you  can  fine  me  or  imprison 
me.  You  know  I  have  done  no  wrong.  No  one  has 
said  aught  against  me.  One  witness  gave  his  opinion 
that  I  had  interrupted  the  meeting  ;  but  he  had  no 
right  to  give  opinions,  he  was  a  witness,  he  should 
give  facts.  You  know  I  have  done  nothing  amiss.  If 
I  had,  why  was  not  Daniel  Noyes,  the  minister,  here  to 
testify  against  me  ?  He  sat  where  he  could  see  all 
that  1  did.  I  have  done  no  wrong.  He  and  Stevens 
and  those  who  violated  my  rights  of  speech  and  of 
person,  why  do  you  not  prosecute  them  instead  of 
me  ?  It  is  not  my  duty  said  Friend  Badger.  It  is  your 
duty  upon  your  own  principles,  replied  Foster.  I  can 
not  prosecute.  It  is  contrary  to  my  principles.  You  can, 
and  are  bound  to.  The  injury  is  not  against  me.  It 
is  against  the  State,  and  you  know  their  guilt  and  are 
bound  to  prosecute  them.  But  do  with  me  as  you 
please. 

Esquire  Badger  then  gave  sentence.  He  would 
protect  an  anti-slavery  meeting,  he  said,  as  soon  as  any 
other  meeting,  if  it  was  disturbed.  He  woultl  do 
justice  to  Mr.  Foster  as  soon  as  to  anybody  else. 
( Thought  I,  Friend  Badger,  you  had  better  not  give 
reasons,  but  convict  and  say  nothing. )  He  went  on  to 
say  "  The  complaint  was  broad  enough  to  cover  the 
case."  Sure  enough  ;  but  then,  there  was  no  evi 
dence  to  sustain  it.  He  said  nothing  about  any  evi 
dence.  The  complaint  is  broad  enough  he  said  to 
cover  the  case,  and  he  declared  Foster  guilty,  and 
fined  him  five  dollars  and  the  costs  !  !  An  expression 
of  disapprobation,  amounting  pretty  near  to  sovereign 
contempt,  manifested  itself  throughout  the  court 
room !  The  champions  of  the  church  had  already 
sneaked  off.  A  man  like  Nathan  Stickney  must  have 
been  ashamed  of  the  decision.  T.  C.,  who  was  about, 
(looking  sheepishly  enough, )  hither  and  thither  dur 
ing  the  trial,  exerting  what  malign  influence  he  could 
covertly,  would  not  be  so  scrupulous  as  to  the  kind  of 
victory,  or  mode  of  obtaining  it.  He  looked  as  though 
he  would  enjoy  a  sentence  against  Stephen  Foster  to 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  14! 

that  pestilential  dungeon  at  Hopkinton  for  twenty 
years,  for  the  quiet  of  the  South  church.  And  he  is 
an  anti-slavery  man!  He  is,  I  believe,  secretary  of 
New  Hampshire  new  organization. 

As  soon  as  the  magnificent  sentence  was  pronounced, 
the  friends  of  humanity  present  ( not  abolitionists 
neither,  professedly,  though  nearer  being  so  than  they 
are  aware  of )  rushed  to  the  table  and  threw  down  the 
money  to  pay  it.  I  would  give  their  honored  names, 
but  it  adds  nothing,  yet,  to  any  man's  reputation  with 
the  world  to  be  commended  in  the  Herald  of  Freedom. 
They  are  well  known  here.  They  make  no  sectarian 
profession,  but  if  not  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  they 
are  nearer  to  it  infinitely,  than  the  miserable  pro- 
slavery  devotees  of  the  meeting-house.  Foster  thanked 
them  in  the  fullness  of  a  grateful  heart,  but  protested 
respectfully  against  their  paying.  It  will  be  better  for 
the  cause,  said  he,  that  I  suffer.  I  can  go  to  their  jail, 
seeing  they  have  unlawfully  doomed  me  there.  Others 
are  there  now.  But  no  heed  was  paid  to  his 
remonstrance.  Everybody  felt  deeply  that  he  was  a 
persecuted,  injured,  innocent  and  faithful  man  ;  and 
entertained  the  profoundest  contempt  and  indignation 
at  the  hypocritical  priest  and  the  rnobocratic  official 
of  the  State,  who  had  outraged  and  injured  him. 

The  tide  of  humanity  ran  too  strong  for  the  legal 
opinions  of  friend  Badger.  He  seemed  to  find  he  had 
mistaken  the  current.  He  had  fined  an  innocent  man, 
prosecuted  by  the  church,  five  dollars,  and  the  PEOPLE 
were  against  it.  He  had  not  anticipated  that.  The 
church  minions  had  slunk  away.  The  table  was  covered 
with  more  money  than  was  wanted.  Friend  Badger 
caught  the  general  feeling  and  remitted  the  fine.  The 
friends  immediately  passed  the  money  over  to  Foster, 
who  told  them  he  would  spend  it  in  the  anti-slavery 
cause. 

The  whole  article,  from  which  this  account  is  but 
an  extract,  fills  more  than  seven  solid  columns  of  the 
Herald  of  Freedom,  and  the  names  and  titles  of  per 
sons  are  given  in  full,  and  especially  those  most  prom 
inent  in  the  shameful  transaction.  Perhaps  it  were 


142  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

better  that  they  had  been  all  given  in  the  same  man 
ner  and  continued  in  this  extract.  Almost  all  the 
parties,  official  and  unofficial,  are  now  dead  ;  many  of 
them  died  long  ago,  even  those  who  led  the  mob  out 
rages  at  the  church  door  where  Foster  received  his 
bodily  injuries.  The  court  room  during  the  trial, 
which  lasted  through  the  most  of  an  afternoon,  was 
crowded  with  an  audience  whose  sympathies  at  the 
beginning  were  doubtless  quite  evenly  divided,  for 
Concord  was  at  that  time  by  no  means  an  anti-slavery 
town.  But  when  the  complaint  was  read,  solemnly 
charging  the  accused,  who  was  a  well-known,  con 
sistent  peace  man  and  non-resistant,  with  "  force  and 
arms,"  and  "  rude  and  indecent  behavior,"  the  whole 
scene  assumed  a  ludicrous  aspect  only.  As  the  trial 
proceeded,  however,  it  soon  became  manifest  that 
malice  and  spite  instigated  the  arrest,  and  that  sum 
mary  vengeance  was  to  be  inflicted,  however  unjust. 
Then  when  Foster  so  serenely  corrected  the  court  in 
its  knowledge  of  law,  telling  just  when  the  law  was 
repealed,  and  where,  and  at  whose  desire,  and  exactly 
for  what  purpose  the  law  then  existing  to  protect 
public  religious  meetings  was  enacted,  all  of  which  he 
showed  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  court,  the  burst 
of  admiring  applause  was  as  general  and  hearty  as  it 
was  long  continued.  Nor  was  there  any  attempt  to 
suppress  it.  That  was  the  verdict  of  humanity  and 
justice,  instinctively  rendered,  with  voice  and  power 
irresistible. 

And  when  Judge  Badger  remitted  the  fine,  which 
doubtless  gave  him  great  pleasure,  though  he  trans 
cended  his  authority  in  doing  so,  there  was  another 
demonstration  of  delight,  at  which  Sheriff  Pettingill 
stepped  forward  and  told  him  he  would  remit  his  fees 
with  the  fine,  and  take  nothing  for  his  services.  To 


SKETCH  OF  STEPHEN  S.  FOSTER.         143 

which  the  judge  good  naturedly  responded  that  he 
would  not  be  outdone  in  magnanimity,  and  would 
throw  in  his  charges  with  the  rest,  and  Mr.  Foster 
might  be  discharged.  The  demonstration  which  suc 
ceeded  needs  no  description,  no  report. 

But  there  was  yet  one  more  incident  worthy  of  men 
tion.  Judge  Badger  beholding  the  generous  pile 
of  silver  which  had  been  tossed  on  his  table,  asked, 
"  What  shall  be  done  with  all  this  money  ?"  "  Give 
it  to  Foster,  give  it  to  Foster,"  was  shouted  out  from 
all  over  the  yet  crowded  room.  Carried  by  acclama 
tion.  It  was  done.  Sheriff  Pettingill  then  gave  Fos 
ter  his  hand  and  said,  "  Now  if  you  will  step  into  my 
carriage  I  will  be  very  happy  to  take  you  back  to  your 
lodgings."  The  offer  was  cordially  and  gratefully 
accepted  by  our  weary  and  suffering  friend,  and  thus 
ended  the  day  with  its  strange  and  wondrous  disclo 
sures  and  deeds. 

But  perhaps  narration  should  not  close  without  a 
brief  mention  of  two  or  three  meetings  held  immedi 
ately,  to  consider  the  right  and  propriety  of  so  lib 
eral  construction  of  the  rights  of  speech  and  worship, 
as  were  attempted  by  Mr.  Foster  and  countenanced  by 
Mr.  Wood.  Both  being  members  of  the  state  anti- 
slavery  executive  committee,  that  committee  united 
with  them  in  a  formal  call  for  such  expression.  And 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  extend  a  special  invita 
tion  to  the  clergy  of  the  town  to  attend  and  partici 
pate  in  the  deliberations.  But  the  clergy  did  not 
come,  though  the  people  did,  in  number  and  quality, 
too,  much  to  their  surprise.  Mr.  Foster  vindicated 
himself  in  the  course  he  pursued,  by  the  example  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles,  who  were  both  dragged 
out  of  the  synagogues  by  the  church  and  clergy  of 
their  time.  He  showed  that  Christ  enjoined  on  his 


144  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

disciples  to  enter  those  places,  and  assured  them  that 
they  would  be  scourged  in  the  synagogues  and  dragged 
out,  and  that  there  would  come  a  time  when  whoso 
ever  should  kill  them,  would  think  he  did  GoH  service. 
He  showed  that  the  modern  synagogue  was  even  more 
intolerant  and  persecuting  than  the  ancient  Jewish. 
For  there  Christ  and  His  apostles  were  even  invited 
to  speak,  and  never  were  disturbed  for  speaking,  but 
only  for  what  they  spoke.  But  he  said  you  drag  me  out 
of  your  Christian  houses  of  worship  only  for  attempting 
in  a  respectful  and  Christian  manner,  to  be  heard,  not 
knowing  what  I  would  say.  And  you  haul  me  before 
the  magistrates  and  thrust  me  into  prisons,  and  may 
yet  kill  me  for  only  attempting  to  do  what  Christ  and 
His  apostles  could  and  did  do,  unmolested,  in  all  the 
places  for  worship  of  their  time.  It  was  only  when 
they  rebuked  the  hypocrisy  and  wickedness  of  the 
worshippers,  that  they  were  accused  of  disturbing  the 
worship,  and  thrust  out  accordingly.  Mr.  Foster  was 
just  recovering  from  the  severe  injuries  he  had  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  the  South  church,  and  perhaps  never 
in  his  life  spoke  with  more  pathos  and  power.  And 
the  whole  sympathy,  if  not  sentiment,  of  his  crowded 
audience  was  with  him.  The  following  resolution  was 
on  the  table  for  discussion  : 

Resolved,  That  the  conduct  of  Stephen  S.  Foster 
and  Amos  Wood,  in  attempting  to  speak  in  behalf  of 
our  enslaved  countrymen,  in  the  South  church  on 
Sunday  last,  without  leave  of  the  minister,  was  a  gross 
and  flagrant  outrage  on  the  prerogatives  of  the  clergy 
and  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  should  be  most  un 
equivocally  condemned  by  every  friend  of  good  order 
and  lover  of  liberty. 

The  editor  of  the  Heraldic,  his  report,  said  :  "  Only 
one  voice  answered  in  favor  of  the  resolution,  and  that 
was  an  abortive,  faint  remanded  yea,  taken  back  in  its 


SKETCH  OF  STEPHEN  S.  FOSTER.        145 

very  birth  and  sounding  ludicrously  with  the  thun 
dering  no,  which  followed  upon  it.  This  must  have 
been  gratifying  to  our  lame  and  suffering  brother 
Foster,  who  was  still  undergoing  great  pain  from  the 
•Christian  handling  of  the  church.  Though  it  would 
not  have  shaken  his  faith,  his  own  firm  faith,  had  the 
response  or  the  responses  of  all  men,  been  the  other 
way." 

Most  of  the  leading  abolitionists,  including  Mr. 
Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips,  and  others  in  Massachu 
setts,  doubted  the  wisdom  of  Mr.  Foster's  course  in 
thus  entering  the  Sunday  congregations,  where  only 
the  stated  minister  was  expected  to  speak.  But  none 
who  knew  him  intimately  ever  doubted  his  entire  hon 
esty,  indeed  deep,  solemn  conviction  of  religious  duty, 
in  what  he  did,  and  in  all  that  he  did.  The  clergy 
were  not  behind  the  most  depraved  politicians  in  their 
determination  to  prevent  the  people,  both  in  and  out 
side  the  churches,  from  learning  the  truth  on  a  problem 
which  every  abolitionist  knew  full  well  involved  the 
national  preservation  or  destruction,  accordingly  as  it 
might  be  solved.  The  whole  nation  came  to  under 
stand  it  rightly  at  last  ;  but  not  till  its  eyesight  had 
been  washed  and  clarified  in  blood  and  tears. 

Mr.  Foster,  having  adopted  and  proved  the  great 
utility  of  his  new  method,  persisted  in  it  until  it  was 
demonstrated  that  no  other  had  ever  subserved  so 
good  a  purpose  in  arousing  the  whole  nation  to  its 
duty  and  danger.  Nothing  like  or  unlike  it,  before  or 
afterward,  so  stirred  the  whole  people,  until  John 
Brown,  with  his  twenty  heroes,  marched  on  Harper's 
Ferry  and  challenged  the  supporters  of  slavery  to 
mortal  combat. 

One  reason  that  Foster  often  gave  for  his  extreme 
action,  as  well  as  utterance,  was,  that  ends  sometimes 


146  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

justified  any  means,  He  would  say,  "should  I  see 
your  house  on  fire,  and  yourselves  and  families  in 
danger  of  instant  death  in  the  flames,  must  I  go  and 
gently  knock  and  wait  till  you  come  and  unlock  the 
door  before  notifying  you  of  your  peril  ?  Or,  suppose 
I  saw  a  church  full  of  worshipers,  with  the  roof  all 
ablaze,  would  they  be  likely  to  drag  me  out  should  I 
rush  in,  unbidden,  and  shout,  fire,  fire,  at  the  top  of 
my  voice?"  And  then  he  would  say,  "your  whole 
country  is  in  extremest  peril.  Your  whole  country  is 
on  fire.  Every  one  of  you  should  tremble,  like 
Thomas  Jefferson,  'remembering  that  God  is  just,  and 
that  His  justice  cannot  sleep  forever  /'  "  But  as  we  now 
know,  he  was  not  believed  ;  though  his  words  could 
not  have  been  more  true,  had  they  been  in  very  deed 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Another  argument  he  often  urged  with  great  per 
tinency  and  force,  based  on  Christian  scripture,  too, 
and  the  practice  of  the  Apostolic  church  : 

The  great  apostle,  Paul,  gave  direction  for  conduct 
ing  worship  ;  and  at  this  time  neither  Paul  nor  Jesus 
had  a  more  devout  disciple  than  P'oster  ;  nor  the  Con 
gregational  church  a  more  holy,  conscientious  and 
consistent  member.  The  apostolic  injunction  simply 
was,  that  order  be  preserved,  though  every  one,  hav 
ing  psalm,  doctrine,  interpretation  or  revelation,  should 
be  heard,  each  in  turn.  And  then,  to  close,  is 
added,  "  For  ye  may  all  prophesy  one  by  one  ;  that  all 
may  learn  and  all  be  comforted."  So,  too,  the  exam 
ple  and  practice  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Jewish  syna 
gogues,  he  would  cite,  as  already  shown,  with  much 
point  and  power.  "True,"  he  would  say,  "the  people 
sometimes  dragged  him  out  as  you  do  me.  But  it  was 
not  because  he  spoke  ;  it  was  for  what  he  said."  It 
was  always  his  claim,  as  with  both  Christ  and  Paul, 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  147 

that,  ''where  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty," 
and  liberty  of  speech  preeminently. 

When  the  people  came  to  his  meetings  he  never 
went  to  theirs.  If  the  ministry  kept  away,  and,  as  they 
generally  did  in  those  days,  endeavored  to  keep  the 
people  away,  he  went  to  them  as  frequently  as  possi 
ble,  at  whatever  cost.  If  imprisoned,  as  many  times 
he  was,  he  comforted  himself  that  he  not  only  "  re 
membered  them  that  were  in  bonds  as  bound  with 
them,"  but  that  he  actually  was  bound  with  them,  and 
for  their  sake  ;  and  verily,  he  had  in  it  great  reward. 

Whoever  attended  his  meetings  always  had  the 
largest  liberty  of  speech,  no  matter  how  widely  they 
differed  from  him.  He  asked  only  two  things  of  an 
opponent  :  first,  that  good  temper  and  spirit  be  kept, 
and  second,  that  both  parties  keep  strictly  to  the  ques 
tion  in  hand.  And  sometimes  he  would  hold  his  audi 
ences  till  midnight. 

Probably  he  encountered  more  mob  opposition  and 
violence  than  any  other  agent  ever  in  the  anti-slavery 
lecturing  field.  But  almost  always  he  would  in  some 
way  obtain  control  of  his  opponents.  There  were  ex 
ceptions.  Once  he  had  four  meetings  broken  up  in  a 
single  week.  Though  in  Portland  he  suffered  more 
by  violent  hands  than  in  the  South  church  at  Concord, 
he  was  finally  rescued  and  borne  off  in  triumph  by  a 
band  of  noble  and  heroic  women.  Not,  however,  till 
he  had  suffered  much  bodily  harm  and  the  loss  of  his 
hat  and  other  parts  of  his  clothing.  His  traveling 
companion,  Rev.  John  Murray  Spear,  was  worse  han 
dled  than  he.  He  was  carried  to  his  home  at  the  hos 
pitable  house  of  an  anti-slavery  family,  and  confined 
to  his  chamber  for  a  number  of  weeks.  There  was 
suffering  as  well  as  heroism,  in  those  days. 


148  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

On  the  island  of  Nantucket,  mob  violence  became 
such  that  a  course  of  lectures  Foster  had  com 
menced  was  cut  short,  and  he  was  advised  to  leave 
the  place  by  his  friends,  which  he  did,  though  before 
he  left  they  desired  him  to  write  a  letter  at  his  earliest 
convenience,  explanatory  of  his  course,  and  in  further 
illustration  and  proof  of  some  of  his  positions.  His 
answer  to  that  reasonable  request  was,  The  Brother 
hood  of  Thieves :  or,  a  True  Picture  of  the  American 
Church  and  Clergy  ;  in  some  respects  the  most  remark 
able  pamphlet  of  seventy-two  closely-printed  pages 
that  the  anti-slavery,  or  any  other  enterprise  of  reform 
has  ever  produced.  It  was  published  in  1843.  It 
defied  contradiction,  both  as  to  doctrine  and  declara 
tion.  It  passed  through  many  editions,  and  went 
•everywhere,  east  and  west.  And  no  matter  who,  or 
what  power  and  influence  abolished  slavery,  that  work 
stands  unrefuted  and  unrefutable  ;  and  shall  stand  a 
monument  to  the  moral  and  material  heroism,  ability, 
fidelity,  and  disinterestedness  of  its  author,  till  time 
shall  be  no  more. 

Distinguished  abolitionists  were  often  called  men  of 
one  idea.  Anti-slavery,  in  its  immeasurable  importance 
to  all  the  interests  of  the  country,  material,  mental, 
moral,  and  social,  as  well  as  religious,  and  political, 
was  one  idea  far  too  great  for  ordinary  minds,  even 
without  any  other.  But  the  sturdy  symmetry  and  con 
sistency  of  Mr.  Foster's  character  were  as  wonderful 
as  were  his  vigor  and  power  in  any  one  direction. 
Earliest  and  bravest  among  the  temperance  reformers, 
when  even  that  cause  was  almost  as  odious  as  anti- 
slavery  became  afterward  ;  a  radical  advocate  of  peace 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
"  Resist  not  Evil,"  seconded  by  the  apostolic  injunc 
tion,  "Avenge  not  yourselves;"  a  champion  in  the 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  149 

woman  suffrage  enterprise  from  its  inception  ;  an 
intelligent,  earnest  advocate  of  the  rights  of  labor, 
and  deeply  interested  in  all  the  educational  and 
moral,  social  and  philanthropic  associations  for  the 
advancement  and  improvement  of  the  city  and  neigh 
borhood  where  he  lived,  he  left  behind  him  a  record 
and  a  memory  to  grow  brighter  as  the  years  sweep  on; 
and  his  virtues  becoming  more  and  more  luminous, 
shall  be  the  better  appreciated  by  multitudes  who 
learn  to  profit  by  them. 

The  beauty  and  harmony  of  his  home  were  unsur 
passed.  It  was  sacred  to  peace  and  love.  Its  unosten 
tatious  but  elegant  and  generous  hospitality  was  the 
admiration  of  all  who  ever  enjoyed  it,  by  day  or  night. 
At  almost  seventy-two,  he  -passed  away  on  the  8th 
of  September,  1881,  deeply  lamented  by  many  true 
and  devoted  friends,  whose  respect,  admiration  and 
affection  he  had  won  by  a  long  life  intensely  devoted 
to  the  highest  interests  of  man  and  womankind. 

But  it  is  time  for  Mr.  Foster  and  myself  to  return  to 
the  lecturing  field. 

On  a  cold,  cloudy  afternoon  in  early  winter,  we  left 
Concord  for  a  short  campaign,  to  commence  in  that 
part  of  Pembroke  now  known  as  Suncook.  At  that 
time  it  was  a  neighborhood  of  a  dozen  houses,  mostly 
small,  one  store,  a  tavern  of  the  class  then  known  as 
"  Meadow-hay  taverns,"  and  a  brick  school-house, 
elbowed  a  little  to  one  side,  and  in  which  we  were  to 
hold  our  meeting.  The  road  was  rough  and  hard 
frozen,  the  day  was  cold,  and  my  old  open  wagon 
unfurnished  with  buffalo  robes.  But  we  were  young 
and  tolerably  vigorous,  and  cared  little  for  such  trifles, 
well  warmed  within  with  an  earnest  purpose,  we  could 
resist  a  good  deal  of  wind  and  weather.  We  intended 
to  reach  an  anti-slavery  family  on  our  way,  in  time  for 


150  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

tea  and  then  go  on  with  them  to  the  meeting,  a  mile 
or  two  beyond.  But  when  we  arrived,  tea  was  done 
and  nothing  was  said  about  it,  though  a  ride  of  some 
miles  over  a  frozen,  rough  road,  after  a  busy  afternoon 
of  preparation  for  the  tour,  seemed  to  argue  strongly 
in  favor  of  some  refreshment,  the  prospective  evening 
work  emphasizing  the  necessity.  So  we  fasted,  and 
my  patient  pony,  Tunbridge,  communed  meantime  with 
the  stone  hitching-post  at  the  gate.  In  due  season,  we 
started  for  the  meeting,  the  family  carriage  leading 
the  way.  The  people  were  gathering  in  goodly  num 
bers  and,  tying  Tunbridge  to  a  tree  and  covering  her 
well  in  her  warm  blanket,  we  entered  the  school-house 
and  were  soon  at  our  wonted  business.  Our  meetings 
were  always  open  to,  and  often  lively  and  late  with 
free  discussion.  So  it  proved  on  that  evening  ;  and 
when  we  did  close,  it  was  after  ten  o'clock,  and  Foster 
and  myself  found  ourselves  left  entirely  alone  in  the 
house,  and  our  horse  and  wagon  outside,  fastened  to 
a  tree. 

For  special  reasons  it  should  be  told  here  that  when 
we  entered  the  service  of  the  State  Society,  we  found 
it  in  debt  to  the  editor  and  publishers  of  the  Herald 
of  Freedom,  two  thousand  dollars  ;  nor  did  it  own  any 
printing-press,  type,  nor  other  office  appointments. 
Our  first  business  then  seemed  to  be  of  a  financial 
character,  and  Mr.  Foster  entered  into  it  with  his 
characteristic  energy  and  fidelity.  Most  of  the  debt 
was  due  to  the  editor,  contracted  while  patiently  per 
forming  work  of  unsurpassed  ability,  fidelity  and 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  humanity.  Fos 
ter  conceived  the  plan  of  funding  the  debt  and  divid 
ing  it  into  shares  of  five  dollars  each,  in  all  amounting 
to  four  hundred  shares.  Any  individual  might  take- 
one  share  or  more  according  to  ability  or  inclination, 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  151 

and  two  persons  could  unite  in  taking  one  share. 
No  payment  was  to  be  required  till  all  the  shares  were 
secured,  and  to  the  lasting  honor  and  credit  of 
Mr.  Rogers,  it  should  be  told  that  his  own  subscrip 
tion  to  the  shares  amounted  to  almost  half  the  sum 
due  him.  To  dispose  of  these  shares  was,  of  course, 
an  important  part  of  the  business  of  our  meetings 
where  there  was  prospect  of  any  success  ;  and  our 
own  compensation  by  a  general  collection,  was  never 
named  till  all  the  shares  possible,  were  secured.  And 
my  own  salary  that  year  was  exactly  three  hundred  and 
four  dollars  and  forty-eight  cents,  and  that  not  all  col 
lected  in  cash.  And  Foster  certainly  was  not  better 
paid.  Whether  at  that  Pembroke  meeting  we  passed 
round  the  hat  for  ourselves  1  do  not  remember,  but  we 
did  secure  a  few  shares  to  the  debt.  At  all  events, 
when  the  meeting  closed,  we  were  left  entirely  alone. 
Our  only  recourse  was  the  "  Meadow-hay  tavern," 
down  in  the  village.  No  reproach  to  the  then  keeper 
of  the  house  that  such  were  sometimes  so  misnamed. 
I  had  met  him  before  and  knew  him  as  a  worthy  man. 
We  drove  down,  but  found  the  house  closed  and  the 
family  all  in  bed.  But  the  hostler,  as  was  then  universal 
custom,  slept  in  a  "  bunk,"  as  it  was  called,  in  the  bar 
room.  Not  quite  Goldsmith's  : 

*     *     *     >l  bed  by  night  and  chest  of  drawers  by  day," 

but  still  subserving  some  such  purpose.  With  'not 
much  difficulty  we  waked  the  hostler  and  he  appeared 
and  let  us  in.  We  told  him  we  were  sorry  to  disturb 
him  but  we  were  strangers  and  wished  accommodation 
for  ourselves  and  horse  over  night.  He  said  he  could 
feed  our  horse  but  that  he  could  do  nothing  for  us, 
beyond  giving  us  a  bed.  So  I  went  with  him  to  the 
stable,  saw  our  Tunbridge  well  fed  and  cared  for,  and 
the  wagon  placed  under  cover,  and  at  eleven  o'clock, 


152  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

we  went  supperless  to  our  bed.  That,  we  shared 
together,  as  the  best  our  vice  landlord  could  do  for  us 
at  that  hour  of  the  night. 

Our  next  engagement  was  away  across  the  country 
at  Epsom,  a  long  drive  over  rough  and  hilly  roads,  and 
we  were  to  commence  at  one  o'clock.  Before  sunrise  I 
was  at  the  stable  with  the  hostler  attending  to  my  mare. 
When  Foster  appeared,  we  went  into  a  store  opposite, 
and  invested  four  cents  in  baker's  biscuits,  and  four 
more  in  raisins  ;  and  sitting  down  by  the  stove,  we 
made  our  supper  of  the  previous  night  and  our  break 
fast  for  that  morning  out  of  our  purchase.  And,  whole 
truth  to  tell,  Foster  had  no  money  and  I  had  left  most 
of  my  own  small  amount  with  my  lonely  little  wife  at 
home,  so  that  we  were  only  living  as  we  could  afford. 
The  wife  of  an  anti-slavery  apostle  then,  enjoyed  no 
enviable  lot. 

And  this  may  be  the  place  to  repeat  of  my  own 
wife,  that  she  supposed,  and  all  her  friends  supposed, 
and  I  supposed  and  all  my  friends  supposed  that  when 
she  wedded,  it  was  to  a  Congregational  minister  who 
had,  even  while  a  theological  student  remarkable 
experiences  and  successes  in  revivals  of  religion,  and 
had  besides  four  invitations  from  parishes  in  New 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  to  preach  as  a  candidate 
for  settlement.  But  while  preaching  a  year  as  a  hired 
supply,  it  became  unmistakably  certain  that  I  could 
never  do  any  good,  honest,  hearty  anti-slavery  work, 
such  as  the  nation  and  the  times  demanded,  and 
retain  my  standing  in  the  Congregational  pulpit.  I 
found  the  neighboring  ministers  were  prowling  about 
among  the  church  and  people  of  rny  congregation 
whispering  surmises  that  my  anti-slavery  zeal  and  my 
intimacy  with  the  "Infidel  Garrison,"  and  the  already 
suspected  Rogers  were  shaking  my  own  orthodoxy  too. 


SKETCH  OF  STEPHEN  S.  FOSTER.        153 

And  one  day  a  member  of  our  church  was  sent  to 
remind  me  that  the  brethren  were  fearing  I  was  getting 
too  much  in  the  way  of  preaching  works  instead  of 
faith  as  the  means  of  salvation.  He  brought  me 
several  texts,  such  as  :  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved  through 
faith  ;"  and  others  of  like  import,  a  whole  foolscap 
page  of  them,  the  last  being  :  "  Not  of  works  lest  any 
man  should  boast."  I  pleaded  guilty  as  to  the  charge 
of  dwelling  more  on  works,  and  gave  as  reason  that  I 
thought  we  failed  less  in  faith  than  in  works.  But 
he  did  his  errand  and  went  his  way.  And  I  went 
mine,  though  it  soon  led  a  long  way  from  that  and 
every  other  pulpit.  But  more  about  this  hereafter. 
Possibly  a  good  deal  more.  Here  it  need  but  be 
said  that  it  was  only  after  serious,  solemn  considera 
tion  that  my  resolution  was  formed.  That  however 
hardly  made  the  disappointment  less,  to  wife,  or  her 
friends,  or  mine,  and,  possibly,  to  myself  least  of  all. 
But  our  breakfast  over  we  returned  to  the  tavern, 
on  which  the  sun  had  not  yet  risen.  I  greeted  the 
landlord  and  called  for  our  bill.  "  Bill,"  he  said  good 
naturedly  ;  u  bill,  why,  you  don't  owe  anything,  do 
you  ?"  He  knew  we  could  have  had  no  supper,  and 
the  tavern  breakfast  bell  had  not  yet  rung.  So  I 
explained  to  him  that  our  last  evening  meeting  held 
late,  and  that  we  had  to  drive  to  Epsom  for  another 
there  to-day  at  one  o'clock.  So  we  had  to  catch  a 
bite  at  the  grocery  across  the  street,  and  get  on  our 
way,  but  that  we  owed  him  for  horse-keeping  and  our 
lodging.  He  poured  a  good  natured  glass  of  satire 
on  our  anti-slavery  friends  who  would  treat  us  so  gen 
erously,  and  said  we  might  pay  him  half  a  dollar  if  we 
had  a  mind  to,  for  our  horse,  but  for  us  he  should 
charge  nothing.  So  we  were  soon  off  for  Epsom. 
The  morning  was  fine,  but  the  roads  were  hilly  and 


154  ACTS    CONTINUED, 

rough,  so  that  when  we  arrived  it  was  time  to  com 
mence,  and  a  good  audience  had  assembled,  some 
from  several  miles  away.  The  days  were  at  the  short 
est,  and  we  were  to  hold  an  evening  meeting,  so  that 
there  was  not  much  time  to  be  lost.  It  was  quite  sun 
set  when  we  closed.  A  Mr.  Sanborn  came  and  said 
we  had  better  go  home  with  him  to  supper,  as  prob 
ably  no  other  family  would  invite  us,  and  there  was  no 
tavern  in  the  town.  He  told  us  he  and  his  family  were 
anti-slavery,  and  kept  to  the  old  organization,  and 
would  be  extremely  glad  to  entertain  us,  though  he 
lived  two  miles  away,  and  up  the  mountain  besides. 
And  he  also  said,  and  much  to  my  joy,  that  we  need 
not  take  our  horse  out  in  the  evening,  as  we  could  be 
brought  back  in  the  family  wagon,  "  Catamount 
hill,"  as  it  was  and  is  called,  proved  to  us  the  "  Delect 
able  mountains"  of  Bunyan's  pilgrims.  We  had  two 
interesting  meetings,  but  New  Organization  had 
preceded  us  and  captured  the  church  and  minister,  so 
that  those  who  aided  us  there,  as  elsewhere,  with  hos 
pitality,  with  sympathy,  or  otherwise,  were  outside  of 
the  sectarian  folds.  The  experiences  of  Monday  and 
Tuesday  were  a  fair  average  of  the  experiences  of  the 
week,  for  we  reached  Concord  on  Monday,  having 
been  absent  eight  days  ;  and  we  had  held  one  or  two 
meetings  every  day.  A  snow  storm  came  in  the  time, 
and  we  were  compelled  to  have  our  Tunbridge  winter 
shod  in  consequence.  We  had  had  some  success  in 
disposing  of  our  shares  to  the  debt,  but  beyond  that 
our  financial  operations  would  not  to-day  be  pro 
nounced  a  success.  On  reckoning  up  we  had  exactly 
thirty-seven  cents  more  than  when  we  set  out,  and 
that  was  in  my  hands.  I  did  not  smile  if  Foster  did, 
when  he  said  :  "  Well,  Parker,  I  have  no  wife  and 
you  have  ;  so  this  time  we  will  not  divide."  Nor  prob- 


SKETCH    OF    STEPHEN    S.    FOSTER.  155 

ably  did  my  wife  smile  heartily  when  I  reached  home 
and  disclosed  to  her  the  situation.  We  made  our  sup 
per  of  plain  coarse  bread  and  butter.  But  next  morn 
ing,  to  my  wonderment,  we  had  just  the  same  for 
breakfast.  In  a  joking  way  I  complained  of  her  fare, 
and  said  something  about  a  new  boarding  house  un 
less  she  set  a  better  table.  The  wit  was  a  little  too 
cool  and  deposited  a  dew  drop  or  two  in  her  eye  and 
down  her  cheek,  as  she  told  me  her  money  was  out, 
and  she  did  not  like  to  break  our  resolution,  never  to 
be  in  debt.  It  would  have  been  in  order  then  for  my 
eye  to  reflect  back  her's,  but  a  rainbow  in  her  sky 
seemed  to  me  just  then  the  needed  return.  It  was 
true  we  determined  in  our  little  forty  dollars  a  year 
rent  never  to  be  in  debt  ;  but  her  health  then  was  not 
as  robust  as  mine.  Such  a  breakfast  was  soon  dis 
patched,  and  nearly  as  soon  I  was  on  the  street  to 
break  our  good  resolution,  if  there  was  strength  in  my 
credit  to  do  it.  Mr.  Franklin  Evans  then  (as  I  be 
lieve  ever  since)  kept  an  excellent  general  country 
store,  and  readily  consented  to  trust  me  for  whatever 
was  needed.  When  I  asked  for  my  first  and  costliest 
article,  which  was  fourteen  pounds  of  good  flour,  he 
advised  my  taking  a  half  barrel,  as  more  economical. 
But  I  declined  his  generous  proposal,  and  kept  my  bill 
within  three  dollars,  though  some  nice  butter  and  sugar 
were  in  my  purchase.  Before  bed-time  three  dollars 
came  from  some  unexpected  source,  with  which  the 
debt  was  paid  as  promised,  and  wife  and  I  slept  that 
night  as  before  from  our  marriage,  "owing  no  man 
anything,  but  to  love  one  another."  And  it  is  only 
truth  and  justice  to  say  that  from  that  night,  the 
handful  of  meal  and  cruse  of  oil  never  wholly  failed 
our  humble  home. 


CHAPTER     VIII. 

ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES  CONTINUED— LETTER  OF  CON 
CORD  WOMEN— CLERICAL  USURPATION— MORE  REVE 
LATIONS  OF  NEW  ORGANIZATION-RIOTOUS  PROCEED 
INGS  AT  DOVER— BY  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  HERALD  OF 
FREEDOM. 

As  we  are  now  back  in  Concord,  we  will  once  more 
recur  briefly  to  the  South  church.  Readers  doubtless 
have  seen,  if  not  deplored,  some  repetition  in  previous 
chapters — only  necessary  till  they  become  acquainted 
with  the  persons  and  the  principles  mostly  presented  in 
these  pages  for  their  consideration. 

It  is  now  proposed  to  present  a  new  phase  of  anti- 
slavery  action  and  effort,  in  which  all  could  bear  ac 
tive  part  who  chose.  Concord  South  Congregational 
church  had  several  excellent  men  and  women,  who 
had  made  themselves  quite  offensive  to  the  minister 
and  some  prominent  members  by  their  fidelity  to  the 
anti-slavery  cause.  Some  had  even  withdrawn,  both 
from  communion  supper  service  and  Sunday  worship. 
Some  were  women  who  were  denied  all  speech  or 
prayer,  in  private  as  well  as  public  assemblies.  They 
addressed  a  formal  communication  to  the  church,  ex 
pressive  of  their  views  and  determinations,  and  then 
withdrew  wholly  from  such  fellowship. 

And  in  presenting  that  letter  here  it  should  be  said 
that  the  same  course  became  common,  if  not  general, 
among  genuine  abolitionists  all  over  the  country,  until 
the  sect  known  as  Come-outers  grew  to  be  numerous, 
and  odious,  too,  to  all  who  lacked  courage  or  honesty 
to  imitate  that  entirely  scriptural  course.  Great 
numbers  of  these  church  withdrawal  letters  are  before 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  157 

me  in  the  bound  volumes  of  anti-slavery  papers,  some 
of  them  of  diamond  points  ;  those  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Rogers  among  them.  New  organized  and  third  polit 
ical  party  abolitionists  displayed  most  fiery  zeal  at  the 
ballot  box  once  or  twice  a  year  ;  would  vote  for  no 
whig  nor  democrat  to  fill  the  meanest  office.  At  the 
baptismal  and  sacramental  altar  whig  and  democrat 
shrunk  into  "  gnats,"  and  were  swallowed  in  the  com 
munion  wine,  who,  on  Monday  at  the  polls,  swelled 
into  larger  "  camels"  than  ever  were  exhibited  at  Bar- 
num's  menagerie.  Not  so  the  women,  nor  some 
of  the  husbands  of  the  women  who  addressed  the  sub 
joined 

Letter  to  the  South  Congregational  church  in  Concord, 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  Daniel  J.  Noyes  : 
DEAR  BRETHREN   AND   SISTERS  : — We,    the  under 
signed,  members  of  the  South  Congregational  church 
in  this  town,  feel  bound  in  duty  to  God  and  man  to  ad 
dress  to  you  the  following  communication  : 

Three  millions  of  our  fellow  beings  are  living  in 
our  midst  under  the  following  circumstances  :  The 
family  institution  is  abolished  among  them — husbands 
and  wives,  parents  and  children,  are  torn  asunder  to 
gratify  the  cupidity  of  their  oppressors  ;  they  are  pun 
ished  as  felons  for  any  attempt  to  learn  to  read  the 
Holy  Gospel  ;  parents  are  liable  to  be  scourged  and 
punished  with  death  for  teaching  their  children  the 
way  of  life  and  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ.  Eight 
thousand  children  are  annually  stolen,  labeled  as  prop 
erty  and  converted  into  merchandize.  One  sixth  of 
the  population  of  this  nation  are  driven  to  incessant 
and  unrequited  toil  from  the  dawn  of  life  to  its  close. 
Three  millions  of  God's  immortal  children,  our  breth 
ren  and  sisters,  are  held  and  used  among  us  as  chat 
tels  personal,  and  bought  and  sold  as  brute  beasts. 
Parents  not  unfrequently  sell  their  own  children. 
Thus  a  cloud  of  frightful,  perpetual  night  is  drawn 
over  millions  of  souls  in  this  land  of  Bibles  and  pro 
fessed  Christian  ministers  and  churches. 


158  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

The  American  church  and  clergy  constitute  a  main 
pillar  of  support  to  this  system  of  unutterable  crimes 
and  woes.  Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  are  re 
ceived  as  Christians  and  Christian  ministers  who  are 
identified  with  this  system  as  slave-holders  and  apolo 
gists  for  slavery.  These  millions  of  imbruted  slaves, 
our  brethren  and  sisters,  are  fallen  among  thieves  and 
robbers  by  your  church  door.  The  church  has  re 
fused  to  pour  in  the  oil  and  the  wine.  Both  pastor 
and  church  have  acted  the  part  of  priest  and  Levite  to 
these  suffering  beings.  By  your  silence  as  a  church 
you  are  lending  the  most  efficient  support  to  this  sys 
tem.  You  fellowship  man-stealers  as  Christians  and 
Christian  ministers. 

We  owe  it  as  a  duty  to  Him  who  hath  loved  us  and 
died  for  us,  and  to  our  suffering  brethren  and  sisters 
in  bonds,  to  refuse  all  participation  in  slavery.  We 
feel  that  we  do  participate  in  that  sin  while  we  recog 
nize  any  body  of  men  and  women  as  a  Christian  church 
that  refuses  to  bear  an  open,  clear  and  solemn  testi 
mony  against  it. 

With  such  views  and  feelings  we  can  no  longer  re 
cognize  you  as  a  Christian  church  while  as  a  body  you 
continue  in  your  present  position  of  silence  to  the 
wrongs  of  the  slave.  *  *  * 

*  *  *  And  we  furthermore  feel  bound  to  protest 
against  the  spirit  of  a  church  which  could  prompt  to 
the  exclusion  of  two  of  its  most  worthy  members,  who, 
that  they  might  keep  a  conscience  void  of  offense  to 
wards  God  and  towards  man,  have  absented  them 
selves  for  a  season  from  your  meetings  ;  while  others 
far  behind  them  in  spiritual  attainments,  and  over 
whom  you  have  solemnly  promised  to  watch,  are  guilty 
of  the  same  offense,  and  are  suffered  to  remain  with 
out  advice,  warning  or  expostulation. 

May  we  all  be  directed  by  that  wisdom  which  cometh 
from  above,  and  at  last  be  reunited  in  the  church  tri 
umphant.  LOUISA  W.  WOOD, 

ESTHER  W.  CURRIER, 
MARY  ANN  FRENCH, 
SARAH  H.  PILLSBURY. 

CONCORD,  N.  H.,  January  16,  1841. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  159 

The  last  signer  of  this  letter  supposed,  when  she 
married,  one  year  before,  that  she  was  the  wife  of  a 
reputable  and  very  promising  young  Congregational 
minister,  and  a  large  and  highly  conservative  circle  of 
family  connections,  one  or  two  of  them  members 
of  this  same  South  church,  and  all  of  them  of  the 
best  society  in  Concord,  presumed  the  same.  It  can 
readily  be  supposed  that  at  that  time  it  required  no 
little  heroism  in  a  young  woman  of  two  or  three  and 
twenty,  thus  to  come  out  from  all  church,  and  family, 
and  society  relations,  and  continue  her  future  destiny 
with  an  anti-slavery  lecturer  who  had  also  made 
himself  doubly  odious  by  renouncing  church,  pulpit, 
and  society  and  party  affiliations  and  united  himself 
with  Garrison,  Rogers  and  the  school  of  "Come-outers," 
already  more  odious,  if  possible,  than  any  other  infidel 
ity  or  heresy  of  those  days.  It  may  be  added  that 
most  of  the  relatives  of  that  then  young  wife,  are  now 
no  more  of  earth,  but  such  as  do  remain,  have  come, 
and  not  recently  neither,  to  hold  her  in  high  and  well 
deserved  esteem.  The  other  signers  of  the  letter,  who 
survive,  are,  and  ever  have  been,  among  the  truest  and 
noblest  women  in  the  land.  And  all  of  them  lived  to 
prove  to  the  world  that  in  their  whole  anti-slavery 
course,  they  were  guided  by  the  highest,  divinest  dic 
tates  of  conscience  and  humanity. 

The  next  movement  of  Mr.  Foster  and  myself  was 
into  the  counties  of  Rockingham  and  Strafford. 
Wherever  we- went  our  great  difficulty  was  to  reach 
the  ear  of  the  people.  The  clergy,  especially  the  new 
organization  clergy,  seemed  most  incorrigible,  most 
unscrupulous  of  all.  They  appeared,  as  already  inti 
mated,  to  have  conspired  together  against  us.  The 
following  extract  from  one  annual  report  of  the 
Vermont  Domestic  Missionary  society,  signed  by 


l6o  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Rev.  Samuel  Delano,  corresponding  secretary,  "in 
behalf  of  the  directors,"  gives  the  sentiment  of  that 
numerous  and  powerful  body,  embracing  the  strength 
of  the  whole  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  church 
of  that  state  : 

The  ministers  are  the  heads  of  the  churches — the 
leaders  in  the  sacramental  host  of  God's  elect.  No 
measure  can  be  carried  without  them,  much  less  in 
opposition  to  them.  And  scarcely  any  proper  meas 
ure  can  fail  to  succeed,  when  the  ministry  put  forth 
their  power.  In  view  of  this  fact,  it  is  asked,  with  the 
utmost  earnestness,  ought  they  not,  and  in  view  of 
their  obligations  and  of  the  glorious  results  sought, 
will  they  not  come  up  to  this  work,  and  lead  on  the 
churches  ?  The  churches  can  be  reached  in  no  other 
way.  No  man  can  approach  a  church  when  the  pas 
tor  interposes.  He  cannot,  and  he  may  not  if  he  can. 
To  give  Vermont  to  Christ — this  is  the  peculiar  work 
of  the  church  of  Vermont.  It  is  the  field  given  to 
these  ministers  and  churches  to  cultivate  and  keep. 

Rev.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  at  the  seventeenth  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society, 
in  a  resolution,  presented  the  necessity  "of  a  stated 
evangelical  ministry,  as  eminently  the  power  of  God 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world."  In  his  address,  he 
spoke  mainly  in  behalf  of  the  "  great  west."  He 
supported  his  resolution  with  characteristic  force  as 
against  a  transient  ministry,  pointing,  perhaps,  to  the 
Methodist  policy  of  rotation  or  change.  Summing 
up,  he  said  : 

A  stated  ministry  unites  society  by  strong  bonds.  A 
good  pastor  is  a  sort  of  central  power  in  society.  He 
holds  the  affections  of  those  with  whom  he  dwells, 
and  becomes  a  patriarch  among  them  *  *  *  * 
Instances  of  the  effects  thus  produced  might  easily 
be  mentioned.  I  could  tell  you  of  a  minister  who 
having  preached  in  a  place  fifty  years  became  the 
patriarch  of  the  village.  And  once  when  a  lecturer 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  l6l 

came  there  whom  he  thought  unsafe,  he  put  on  his 
gown  and  wig  and  cocked  hat,  and  walked  up  one 
side  of  the  street  and  told  his  people  they  had  better 
not  go,  and  then  walked  in  the  same  way  down  the 
other  side,  and  every  soul  staid  at  home  !  All  that  is 
healthful  in  society,  finds  support  in  the  stated 
ministry. 

We  found  clerical  authority  like  that  in  full  force  in 
many  a  country  town,  so  that  much  of  our  work  was 
actual  invasion.  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  suffering 
violence  and  the  violent  taking  it  by  force."  In 
the  town  of  Northwood,  we  found  the  minister, 
was  in  every  important  sense  the  "  village  patriarch  " 
after  the  very  heart  of  Dr.  Beecher.  He  would  not 
give  our  notice,  and  no  public  notice  had  been  given 
of  our  meetings,  which  we  intended  should  continue 
two  evenings.  And  when  Foster  called  on  him  and 
solicited  the  use  of  his  vestry  and  his  own  attendance 
and  cooperation,  he  quite  spiritedly  refused  having 
anything  to  do  with  him.  The  vestry,  however,  was 
not  too  holy  to  be  used  for  whig  and  democratic 
caucus  and  convention,  not  always  conducted  in  very 
orderly  or  decent  manner.  A  mile  away  from  the 
church  we  had  the  use  of  a  school-house  two  evenings, 
as  at  first  intended.  We  spent  the  cold  day  in  going 
from  house  to  house,  endeavoring  to  waken  an  interest 
in  our  movement.  At  the  first  meeting  but  few  came, 
and  they  men  and  boys  only.  One  glimmering  tallow- 
dip  and  a  small  glass  lantern  made  almost  a  vain 
attempt  to  show  us  to  each  other.  After  prayer,  with 
which  we  then  opened  our  meetings,  we  introduced  a 
resolution,  declaring  all  not  actively  engaged  in  the 
anti-slavery  enterprise,  to  be  by  position  if  not  in 
spirit,  slaveholders.  Such  a  charge  brought  several 
of  the  staunchest  advocates  of  slavery  and  ablest  men 
of  the  town  to  their  feet.  A  lawyer  and  an  old 


/l62  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

academy  preceptor  defended  slavery  from  the  Bible. 
And  both  pleaded  earnestly  the  cause  of  the  church 
and  pulpit  against  our  charges  as  deduced  from  the 
resolution  presented.  The  ex-preceptor  said  he  had 
lived  at  the  South  among  slaveholders  and  that  our 
"  Southern  brethren"  emphasizing  the  words,  were 
"as  high  minded,  hospitable  and  pious  a  people  as 
could  be  found  on  this  globe."  And  moreover,  that 
no  happier  class  of  persons  could  be  found  anywhere 
than  the  slaves.  Indeed,  he  earnestly  declared  their 
very  labor  was  a  source  of  happiness,  as  he  knew  from 
his  own  experience,  never  having  been  so  happy  in  his 
life  as  when  at  work  on  his  father's  farm. 

Toward  the  close,  the  debate  ran  high,  and  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  church,  not  relishing  a  discus 
sion  when  the  truth  was  so  manifestly  against  him  and 
his  side,  tried  hard  to  adjourn  us,  complacently  assur 
ing  Foster  and  myself  that  "  our  further  labors  in 
the  town  could  be  dispensed  with."  But  hoping  to 
get  access  to  a  better  class  of  people,  we  succeeded  in 
an  adjournment  to  next  evening,  much  to  our  surprise 
as  well  as  gratification. 

The  next  evening  brought  a  full  house,  but  the 
enemy  overpowered  us,  and  organized  and  officered 
to  suit  themselves.  Some  would  have  gladly  heard  us 
had  they  been  permitted.  We  did  get  an  opportunity 
in  the  course  of  the  evening  to  present  one  more  res 
olution,  which  we  had  prepared  before  hand.  It  was 
our  custom  when  we  saw  that  a  mob  was  inevitable,  to 
try  to  turn  it  to  good  account,  by  making  what  we  did 
say,  as  effective  and  as  likely  to  be  remembered  as  pos 
sible.  So  my  second  resolution  read  in  substance  that 
no  person  should  be  regarded  as  a  Christian  or  Chris 
tian  minister,  who  was  not  an  earnest,  active,  out 
spoken  abolitionist.  The  uproar  was  renewed  at  once 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  163 

with  augmented  violence,  the  moment  the  resolu 
tion  was  heard.  After  a  time  Foster  obtained  the 
floor  for  a  few  moments,  and  reasoned  of  righteous 
ness,  temperance  and  judgment  already  come,  as  few 
young  men  of  that  or  any  day  since  ever  did.  Even 
our  stoutest  opponents  stood  aghast,  if,  like  the  Roman 
Felix,  they  did  not  tremble.  But  our  meetings  showed 
no  immediate  good  results.  One  old  gentleman 
kindly  entertained  us,  and  with  his  family  sympathized 
deeply  with  us  in  our  seeming  disappointment.  But 
we  devoutly  thanked  him  and  the  family,  and  assured 
them  on  parting  that  we  were  already  accustomed  to 
such  repulsions,  and  were  prepared  for  whatever 
awaited  us. 

Deerfield,  the  next  day,  proved  equally  inhospitable 
to  the  truths  we  carried  there.  The  Calvinistic  Bap 
tist  minister  was  personally  very  friendly  to  us,  and 
an  abolitionist,  too,  but  had  not  heard  of  our  coming, 
and  no  notice  had  been  given  of  our  intended  meet 
ings  ;  nor  was  it  convenient  for  us  then  to  attempt 
any  meetings.  We  called  on  the  Free  Will  Baptist 
minister,  and  found  him  a  hard-headed,  harder-hearted 
democrat,  of  the  most  pronounced  pro-slavery  type. 
Doubtless  he  has  long  since  passed  away  ;  but  to  his 
dying  day,  I  dare  affirm  he  remembered  the  remon 
strances  and  rebukes  he,  on  that  occasion,  received 
from  the  inspired  voice  of  Stephen  Foster. 

At  Nottingham  I  was  invited  by  the  Congregational 
minister,  Mr.  Le  Bosquet,  to  preach  for  him  on  Sun 
day,  during  the  day.  I  had  not  then,  in  form,  laid 
down  my  ministerial  prerogative,  and  accepted  when 
convenient  every  such  proposal.  Mr.  Le  Bosquet  was 
a  new  organization  abolitionist,  and  so  could  not 
wholly  agree  with  me  then,  though  friendly  towards 
me,  and  even  magnanimous.  But  he  finally  lapsed 


164  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

entirely  into  the  political  vortex,  and  never,  so  far  as 
I  knew,  abandoned  the  Congregational  pulpit  or  de 
nomination,  with  all  its  incorrigible  pro-slavery  char 
acter. 

Our  reception  at  Lee,  home  of  the  Quaker  family 
of  the  Cartlands,  was  not  unlike  that  at  Northwood  in 
so  far  as  the  character  of  audiences  was  considered, 
though  they  were  numerically  larger  and  more  voci 
ferous.  Northwood  had  no  Cartland  family,  as  had 
Lee,  and  that  made  a  difference  in  our  favor,  morall}^ 
of  thousands,  though  our  resolutions  were  voted  down 
of  course,  by  stamping  majorities.  A  venerable  Bap- 
list  minister  attended  on  Sunday  evening  ;  even  post- 
.  poned  his  own  regular  meeting  for  it.  He  not  only 
opened  our  exercises  with  prayer,  but  bore  friendly 
testimony  to  our  general  course.  So  on  the  whole  our 
few  friends  in  Lee  were  much  pleased  with  our  visit 
and  labors  there. 

Exeter,  to  which  we  went  next,  was  one  of  the  old, 
aristocratic,  wealthy,  conservative  towns,  and  a  county 
seat  besides,  so  that  really  we  had  little  to  hope  at  its 
hand  or  heart.  We  had  not  underestimated  the  moral 
and  spiritual  quality  of  the  people.  In  the  larger, 
most  popular,  denominations  clerical  authority  was 
more  malignant,  more  imperious  than  we  had  any 
where  found  it  before.  The  Christian  minister  was  ill, 
and  we  did  not  call  on  him,  but  were  assured  that  he 
was  decidedly  friendly  to  us  and  our  cause.  The  Meth 
odist  clergyman  showed  himself  indeed  on  our  side, 
for  he  not  only  permitted  us  to  occupy  his  meeting 
house,  but  suspended  some  special  protracted  relig 
ious  services  then  holding,  that  we  might  have  not 
only  his  house,  but  congregation  as  well.  And  we 
found  two  or  three  colored  families  in  the  town 
who  manifested  deep  and  intelligent  interest  in  our 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  165 

work,  so  that  on  the  whole,  we  found  a  goodly 
number  of  interested  sympathizers  in  our  mission, 
if  not  among  the  opulent  and  popular,  certainly 
of  that  not  less  worthy,  nor  by  any  means  less  import 
ant  class,  who,  eighteen  hundred  years  before,  heard 
"  gladly  "  a  far  greater  teacher  and  lecturer. 

One  morning  call  on  a  Congregational  minister  of 
the  place  was  worthy  of  remembrance  and  recall,  and 
that  will  be  all  that  need  be  said  of  our  visit  to  Exe 
ter.  We  certainly  entered  his  study  in  a  becoming 
manner  and  proper  and  kindly  spirit.  We  gave  our 
names  and  the  object  of  our  coming  in  tone  and  tem 
per  of  which  none  could  complain.  But  in  a  bluster 
ing,  threatening  mood  and  language  absolutely 
abusive,  he  positively  forbade  our  speaking  on  our 
subject  in  his  presence.  Mr.  Foster  told  him  that  we 
sometimes  had  to  speak  to  men  whether  they  would 
hear  or  forbear.  He  snatched  up  his  pen  with  the  ut 
most  violence  and  commanded  us  to  leave  him  to  his 
work.  His  large  size  and  great  agitation,  his  lip 
actually  quivering  with  rage,  and  the  haughty  manner 
in  which  he  stormed  at  us,  strongly  reminded  us  of 
the  caution  of  Him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake  : 
"  Beware  of  Men  !"  As  we  turned  to  go  we  told  him 
we  must  express  our  disapprobation  of  his  course,  and 
in  obedience  to  divine  command,  shake  off  the  dust  of 
our  feet  as  our  testimony  against  him.  His  treatment 
of  us  compelled  the  belief  of  many  things  told  us 
against  him  as  to  his  manner  of  life.  At  that  very 
time  men  were  going  home  drunk  and  abusing  their 
families  ;  one  man  actually  murdered  his  wife  in  his 
drunken  rage,  and  yet  that  same  minister  was  baptiz 
ing  the  rum  trade  and  trader,  and  receiving  them  to 
full  church  communion  and  fellowship.  It  need  not 
be  told  that  several  of  his  church  members  had  already 


l66  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

withdrawn  from  his  ministrations.  And  if  other  facts 
concerning  him,  which  were  given  us  from  eye  and 
ear  witnesses,  should  be  here  produced,  they  would 
almost  exceed  belief.  But  his  demeanor  towards  us 
prepared  us  to  accept  whatever  of  immorality  might 
be  spoken  against  him.  Afterwards  we  said  and  wrote 
truly  that  we  had  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  slave  in 
bar-rooms  and  in  grog-shops,  in  the  field,  the  forge, 
the  factory  and  the  highways,  if  not  in  the  hedges, 
but  it  was  for  a  New  England  minister,  pastor  of  one 
of  the  largest  Congregational  churches  in  his  state,  to 
positively  and  peremptorily  forbid  us  to  open  our 
mouths  for  the  dumb  in  his  reverend  presence. 

Should  it  be  objected  that  he  was  only  one,  and 
represented  only  himself,  it  could  be  answered  that  he 
was  one  of  a  powerful  denomination  and  influential, 
too  far  above  the  average  membership  in  every  coun 
cil  ;  and  a  denomination,  too,  that  made  the  heresy  of 
rejecting  infant  baptism  at  that  day  an  offense  of  such 
importance  as  to  refuse  ordination  for  the  ministry  at 
home  and  the  missionary  abroad. 

Readers  by  this  time  understand  that  every  individual 
clergyman  or  separate  church  described  in  these 
records  is  only  as  representative  of  large  numbers, 
and  by  no  means  as  exceptions  to  general  rules.  One 
incident,  however,  is  worthy  of  mention  for  its  origin 
ality.  Nor  do  I  remember  more  than  one  or  two  like 
it  in  all  my  lecturing  mission  of  almost  forty  years, 
and  it  was  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day  we  left  Exeter. 

We  drove  into  Stratham,  where  we  had  sent  on  an 
appointment  for  afternoon  and  evening.  Inquiring 
the  way  as  we  rode  along,  we  learned  that  our  meeting 
would  be  at  two  o'clock,  in  a  meeting-house,  to  which 
we  were  easily  directed,  and  which  we  soon  reached. 
It  was  a  small,  pretty  little  steepled  building,  situated 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  167 

almost  alone,  not  a  house  very  near  it,  and  only  a  few 
in  sight  of  it.  Driving  our  horse  under  a  friendly  shed 
in  the  rear,  we  entered  and  found  everything  comfort 
able  and  desirable  as  possible,  but  not  a  human  soul 
nor  body  present  beside  ourselves,  The  hour  had  ar 
rived,  and  so  had  the  speakers,  but  where  was  the 
audience  ?  We  sat  an  hour  or  more,  till  the  sun  was 
getting  low,  and  then  drove  on  to  a  little  village  pros 
pecting  ;  but  soon  found  to  no  purpose.  It  was  made 
very  certain  that  the  house  would  not  be  lighted  nor 
warmed  for  evening,  so  we  drove  down  to  Greenland, 
adjoining,  which  we  found,  spite  of  its  name,  a  warmer 
clime. 

But  Foster  could  not  forget  Stratham.  We  had 
met  mob  after  mob  ;  minister  after  minister,  sometimes 
the  direct  instigator  of  the  mob  ;  and  almost  always 
we  had  achieved  some  sort  of  honorable  success  ;  if 
not  triumph.  True,  it  was  "  hard  to  kick  against 
pricks  ;"  but  to  kick  against  nothing,  could  not  be 
borne.  However,  it  was  early  spring  before  he  found 
it  convenient  to  visit  Stratham  again.  Then  he  went 
alone.  He  had  his  meeting  appointed  in  a  school 
house,  on  a  bright  April  moonlight  evening.  When  he 
entered  the  house,  a  dozen  or  two  had  gathered.  He 
waited  a  reasonable  time,  hoping  to  see  more.  But  no 
more  came.  So  he  commenced  his  lecture.  I  do  not 
know  what  he  said  or  did  not  say.  Probably  it  would 
have  made  no  difference.  For  just  as  he  grew  a  little 
animated  and  earnest  in  gesture  as  well  as  utterance, 
his  audience  rose,  probably  at  a  preconcerted  signal, 
and  deliberately  and  respectfully  walked  out  of  the 
house,  leaving  him  entirely  alone  !  So  there  he  stood, 
a  sentence  half  uttered,  a  gesture  struck  down  in  its 
formation.  Perhaps  never  before  nor  afterwards,  was 
he  more  completely  subdued. 


l68  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

At  North  Hampton,  we  had  a  little  clerical  exper 
ience  not  unworthy  of  mention.  No  meeting  had 
been  appointed  so  we  assumed  all  responsibility,  not 
"  mobbing,"  as  Mr.  Emerson  charged,  but  taking 
possession  of  the  town.  We  fortunately  found  one 
good  man  who  went  with  us  to  call  on  the  minister  to 
ask  for  his  vestry  and  his  cooperation  for  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting.  The  minister  was  a  mile  away  visit 
ing  a  winter  school.  Foster  sat  in  the  sleigh  while  our 
friend  with  me  knocked  at  the  school-house  door.  The 
minister  appeared  in  the' entry  as  we  desired,  but  no 
sooner  were  my  name  and  business  announced  than 
the  clerical  wrath  kindled.  He  did  not,  like  his  stalwart 
Exeter  brother,  forbid  my  speaking  in  his  presence,  but 
in  similar  spirit  declared  he  would  hold  no  communi 
cation.  No,  said  he,  "  I  have  heard  of  you  and 
Stephen  Foster,  and  I  want  nothing  to  do  with  you. 
You  abuse  the  ministers  in  your  Herald  of  Freedom  ; 
men  that  I  respect.  I  know  what  it  contains.  I  read  it." 

So  do  most  of  the  ministers,  might  have  been 
responded  to  him,  but  I  did  not  interrupt  him.  When 
I  did  speak  I  said,  you  treat  us  just  as  do  most  of  the 
orthodox  ministers  ;  and  you  need  not  wonder  that  we 
expose  them  in  the  name  of  humanity  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  down-trodden  slave.  "  O,  I  see,"  he  said, 
"what  you  are  after.  You  want  to  draw  me  into  argu 
ment  and  then  hold  me  up  in  your  Herald,  as  you 
have  so  many  other  ministers  ;  but  I  shall  not  put 
•myself  in  your  power."  I  then  made  some  little 
remark,  which  stirred  his  indignation,  and  he  broke 
forth  again  and  charged  me  and  my  companion  very 
vehemently  with  attacking  holy  institutions,  rending 
churches,  abusing  ministers,  disturbing  the  public 
peace  and  seeking  to  undermine  all  the  institutions  of 
society.  He  forgot  what  he  said  a  moment  before 


ACTS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  APOSTLES.        169 

about  putting  himself  in  my  power  and  stormed  along 
till  all  he  said  would  have  made  a  very  much  longer 
account  than  is  here  given.  I  did  send  what  made 
nearly  two  columns  in  the  Herald,  and  mailed  copies 
of  it  to  most, of  the  leading  men  of  the  town,  there 
being  then  no  subscribers,  or  not  more  than  one 
there. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  Mr.  Foster  and  myself  in  the 
lecture  field,  with  Mr.  Rogers  at  the  helm  of  the  Herald 
of  Freedom,  were  justly  chargeable  with  not  a  little  dis 
turbance  of  the  public  peace.  I  wrote  a  sermon  at 
the  time  from  the  text,  "Think  not  that  I  am  come  to 
send  peace  on  earth  :  I  came  not  to  send  peace  but  a 
sword."  It  was  strictly  orthodox  in  doctrine,  so  I 
sometimes  preached  it  in  orthodox  pulpits  ;  did  so  in 
Concord  South  church,  which  was  the  beginning  of 
its  anti-slavery  sorrows,  for  Foster  did  not  go  there 
till  more  than  a  year  afterwards.  Rogers  was  present, 
and  here  are  a  few  things  he  said  of  it  in  the  next 
Herald.  I  had  not  then  wholly  abandoned  preaching, 
nor  been  disowned  by  the  Suffolk  association  of  minis 
ters  from  whom  I  received  regular  license  in  Boston 
to  preach  the  Congregational  gospel.  But  I  was  soon 
called  to  account  after  my  presumption  in  preaching 
such  a  sermon  to  such  a  body  as  Foster  proved  the 
South  church  to  be  in  its  coming  judgment  day,  some 
year  or  two  afterwards. 

After  a  few  words  on  ministerial  influence  and  what 
constitutes  it,  and  who  it  was  who  "  made  himself  of 
no  reputation,"  and  had  "no  weight  of  influence," 
Rogers  proceeded  to  say  : 

Parker  Pillsbury  is  doubtless  one  of  the  three 
intended  by  the  Christian  Panoply.  He  has  no  influ 
ence.  But  the  Panoply  and  kindred  ministers  abound 
with  it.  Those  who  heard  brother  Pillsbury  on  Sunday 


1 70  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

evening  before  last,  may  understand  what  it  is  that 
gives  "influence  and  weight"  to  a  New  Hampshire 
minister.  The  full  auditory  that  heard  him  that  even 
ing,  with  the  attention  of  life  and  death,  and  the 
hushed  stillness  of  the  churchyard  can  tell  how 
necessary  "influence  and  weight"  are  to  constitute  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel. 

The  text  was  the  declaration  of  Christ,  that  he  came 
not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword,  on  the  earth.  Then  he 
spoke  of  the  human  character  ;  the  agitating,  disturb 
ing  influence  of  truth  on  that  character —  he  glanced 
.at  the  turmoil  and  confusion  into  which  truth  had  ever 
wrought  it,  and  the  bitter  hostility  the  church  and 
ministry  had  manifested  towards  the  spirit  of  reforma 
tion,  from  the  days  of  Him  who  came  to  bear  witness 
unto  the  truth  down  through  the  times  of  Luther  to 
our  own.  He  spoke  of  the  necessity,  safety  and  whole- 
someness  of  moral  agitation  in  society  and  in  the  church, 
and  the  deadly  danger  of  moral  stagnation.  He  illus 
trated  the  one  by  the  tossed  ocean,  ever  pure  and  whole 
some  from  its  ceaseless  inequietude,  and  the  other  by 
the  stagnant,  lifeless  pool,  become  putrid  by  its  own 
quiescence, breeding  only  croaking  frogs  and  noisesome, 
hurtful  reptiles.  He  declared  the  duty  of  the  watch 
man  on  the  walls  of  Zion  was  to  be  ever  in  the  van  of 
moral  agitation.  When  the  tempest  was  up  he  should 
be  prompt  to  mount  the  foremost  billow  and  direct  the 
storm.  And  in  time  of  dead  calm,  the  watchman  of 
all  men,  should  wake  the  moral  hurricane. 

We  can  merely  touch  on  this  sermon.  The  breath 
less  auditory  best  attested  its  power  and  its  palpable 
truth.  But  the  Christian  Panoply  says  brother  Pills- 
bury  has  no  weight  of  influence.  Of  the  manner  of 
the  speaker,  we  can  only  say  he  seemed  to  us  to  be 
mightily  in  earnest ;  to  believe  solemnly  what  he  was 
preaching  and  not  at  all  like  -one  reciting  a  task. 

This  testimony  from  Mr.  Rogers  is  only  produced 
here  to  show  what  really  was  the  disturbing  element 
among  the  clergy,  and  gave  such  point  and  significance 
to  the  anti-slavery  movement,  especially  to  the  labors 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  iyi 

of  the  field  lecturers  ;  and  at  that  time  in  New  Hamp 
shire  and  Massachusetts  much  more  than  anywhere 
else.  The  cause  was  now  eleven  years  old,  but  never 
before  had  the  sin  of  slavery  been  so  directly  laid  at 
the  door  of  the  church.  But  the  time  had  come  when 
"  judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God."  Even 
Judge  Birney's  "American  Churches  the  Bulwarks  of 
American  Slavery "  had  by  no  means  produced  the 
desired  effect.  For  some  reason,  it  was  first  published 
in  England,  and  seems  not  to  have  had  much  circula 
tion  in  the  United  States  till  its  second  edition  revised 
by  the  author,  in  1842,  and  published  in  Garrison's 
native  town,  Newburyport,  Massachusetts. 

While  slavery  was  only  an  evil,  the  church  and  even 
the  clergy  could  be,  and  many  of  them  were  opposed 
to  it.  Professor  Stuart,  of  Andover  Theological  Sem 
inary,  denied  even  that  doctrine,  and  wrote  and  pub 
lished  a  tract  entitled,  "Slavery  not  a  malum  in  se," 
which  had  many  readers  and  believers,  and  produced 
a  marked  effect,  particularly  among  the  ministry.  But 
Garrison  was  already  in  the  field,  and  slavery  was 
branded  as  a  sin  against  God  and  a  crime  against  man, 
always  and  everywhere  ;  and  the  only  remedy  for  it 
was  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation  of 
every  slave.  This  demand  had  many  supporters  in 
the  church  and  pulpit,  till  the  application  was  made 
directly  and  forcibly  to  them,  with  the  more  startling 
declaration  that  no  slave-holder  could  be  a  Christian. 
And  when  at  last  the  uncompromising  abolitionists 
proclaimed  their  determination  to  have  "  no  union  nor 
fellowship  with  slaveholders,  in  state  nor  church,"  and 
pronouncing  the  northern  apologist  and  abettor,  no 
less  wicked  than  the  slave-holder,  because  sinning 
against  more  light,  and  with  less  motive  and  tempta 
tion,  then  the  alarm  pealed  out  so  as  to  reach  the 


172  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

deafest  ear,  the  deadest  church.  Almost  every  Con 
gregational  and  Presbyterian  minister  in  the  north 
heard  it  and  stood  aghast  !  Even  President  Lord,  of 
Dartmouth  college,  fled  in  dismay  ;  though  he,  like 
Rev.  Mr.  Curtis  had  preached  and  written  plainly 
against  slavery  as  sin,  not  the  "malum  in  se,"  of  pro 
fessor  Stuart.  The  most  anti-slavery  ministers  made 
haste  to  find,  or  base  a  remedy  in  new  organization. 
So  especially  was  it  here  in  New  Hampshire,  as  has 
been  sufficiently  shown.  Only  three  Congregational 
ministers,  I  think,  in  the  state  remained  to  the  old 
society,  and  one  of  them  was  unordained,  and  another, 
Rev.  Benjamin  Sargent,  was  Presbyterian,  settled  in 
that  part  of  Chester  now  known  as  Auburn.  He  and 
Thomas  P.  Beach,  who  has  already  appeared  in  these 
pages,  and  will  again,  next  year  (1842)  remained  true 
to  their  convictions,  though  at  cost  of  much  personal 
bitterness  and  even  cruel  persecution  from  their  clerical 
brethren  and  other  opponents  of  the  anti-slavery  cause. 
The  third  was  he  of  "no  weight  of  influence"  in 
Christian  Panoply  esteem  ;  and  more  especially  after 
he  had  preached  his  sermon  on  moral  and  religious 
agitation,  from  the  text,  "  I  am  not  come  to  send 
peace,  but  a  sword." 

I  pass  over  several  meetings  of  much  interest, 
attended  by  Mr.  Foster  and  myself,  one  at  Great  Falls, 
which  continued  two  or  three  days  and  closed  on  Sun 
day  afternoon  in  time  for  us  to  ride  to  Dover  for  a 
meeting  there  in  the  evening. 

Mr.  Rogers  had  come  down  in  the  last  of  the  week 
and  was  with  us  a  part  of  the  time  at  Great  Falls.  But 
the  Dover  meeting  on  Sunday  evening  proved  of 
greater  interest  and  more  importance  than  had  been 
anticipated.  And  so  marked  were  some  of  its  pecul 
iarities  and  so  prominent  was  the  part  borne  in  it  by 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  173 

Mr.  Rogers,  that  readers  will  surely  be  grateful  to  me 
for  permitting  them  to  read  his  description  of  it,  in  his 
next  week's  Herald.  The  heading  to  his  editorial 
read  thus  : 

VIOLENT  BREAKING  UP  OF  A  MEETING  AT  DOVER — 
REV.  MR.  YOUNG,  FRANCIS  COGSWELL,  ESQ.,  AND 
COL.  ANDREW  PIERCE. 

We  mention  the  names  cf  these  three  individuals 
here  in  the  same  connection  with  the  words  above  in 
which  they  appeared  with  the  disturbance  and  breaking 
up  of  an  anti-slavery  meeting  in  the  place  last  Sunday 
night.  We  give  the  public  the  facts. 

Sunday  evening,  accompanied  by  our  state  agents 
Pillsbury  and  Foster,  on  our  way  home  from  the 
Somersworth  convention,  we  met  a  very  large  and  most 
respectable  assemblage  of  the  people  of  Dover  in  the 
Orthodox  Congregational  meeting-house.  It  was,  so 
far  as  we  could  judge,  as  intelligent  and  enlightened 
an  auditory  as  that  large  town  could  furnish.  The  exer 
cises  began  by  reading  a  hymn  by  Rev.  Mr.  Young, 
minister  of  that  house,  singing  by  the  choir,  prayer  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Haydon,  Baptist  clergyman,  then  a  hymn 
read  by  Mr.  Young  and  singing  again  ;  when,  after 
explaining  to  the  audience  the  mistaken  notice  that 
had  been  given  which  might  have  led  to  an  expecta 
tion  of  a  prepared  address  from  us,  we  offered  for  the 
consideration  of  the  meeting,  a  resolution  of  the  fol 
lowing  purport : 

That  at  this  stage  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  no 
intelligent  person,  not  openly  and  faithfully  engaged 
in  it,  ought  to  be  recognized  as  a  Christian,  or  as 
possessed  of  common  humanity.  After  reading  the 
resolution  through  distinctly  twice  to  the  meeting,  we 
proceeded  to  enforce  it  in  the  plainest,  most  faithful 
manner  we  were  able  to  do  without  any  preparation 
except  the  brief  prayer  we  offered  to  God  in  secret 
that  he  would  enable  us  to  say  something  to  reach  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  the  influential  and  high  minded 
auditory  before  us.  Owing  to  severe  exhaustion  and 
indisposition,  we  had  intended  to  say  but  few  words 
-at  the  meeting,  and  to  leave  the  main  service  in  the 


1/4  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

hands  of  our  brethren,  the  agents  ;  one  of  whom  took, 
the  resolution  to  the  meeting  with  that  understanding. 
But  just  before  the  close  of  the  second  singing  he 
handed  it  to  us  with  the  wish  expressed  that  we  should 
lead  in  the  discussion,  to  which  we  assented,  trusting 
in  God  to  give  us  somewhat  to  say  on  so  embarrassing 
an  occasion.  We  proceeded  to  remind  our  audience 
of  the  fact  of  our  country's  enslavement  of  a  sixth 
portion  of  the  people,  of  the  character  and  objects 
of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  of  its  advancement, 
from  the  beginning  and  its  present  stage,  and  of  the 
unchristian  and  inhuman  position  of  all  in  the  country 
who  refused  to  enlist  openly  and  faithfully  in  it.  We 
talked  some  forty  minutes  as  near  as  we  could  judge, 
and  as  plainly  and  faithfully  as  we  were  able.  The 
audience  gave  us  the  stillest  and  most  active  attention.. 
Considering  the  pointed  character  of  the  remarks  we 
were  obliged  to  make  and  the  auditory  we  were 
addressing,  proud  in  talent,  influence,  wealth  and 
reputation  and  all  that  finds  human  self-respect,  we 
were  deeply  grateful  and  somewhat  surprised  that, 
they  gave  us  such  patient  and  forbearing  audience. 
May  God  bless  it  to  the  anti-slavery  repentance  of 
them  all. 

We  were  followed  by  our  brother  Foster  in  a  strain 
of  the  pertinent,  eloquent  and  solemn  remark  which 
distinguishes  him  as  an  anti-slavery  speaker.  In  the 
course  of  his  exposition  of  the  character  of  the  com 
munity  in  relation  to  slavery,  he  remarked  on  the  sup 
port  given  the  slave  system  by  their  honoring  it  in  the 
persons  of  distinguished  slave-holders  for  whom  they 
had  recently  voted  for  high  offices  in  the  gift  of  the 
people,  and  by  their  fellowshiping  slave-holders  and 
their  apologists  as  Christians  and  ministers  of  the 
gospel.  The  auditory  awarded  him  throughout  the 
most  pointed  attention. 

When  Foster  closed,  we  addressed  them  to  show 
that  their  position  while  out  of  the  anti-slavery  enter 
prise,  was  the  one,  and  the  very  one,  and  the  only  one 
which  could  aid  the  south  in  their  slave-holding,  and 
which  the  south  desired  them,  or  would  consent  that 
they  should  take.  We  spoke  of  their  estimation  of  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  175 

free  colored  man,  and  of  the  estimation  in  which  he 
was  held  abroad — by  subjects  of  monarchy,  by  the  first 
talent  and  character  in  Great  Britain — and  of  the 
reception  we  met  with  there  as  abolitionists  on  our 
recent  visit  abroad,  compared  with  the  estimation  we 
were  held  in  here  at  home.  The  same  attention  was 
vouchsafed  us  while  we  spoke,  as  before. 

At  our  closing,  brother  Foster  arose  and  requested 
the  enlightened  audience,  if  any  among  them  denied 
or  doubted  the  soundness  of  our  positions  or  the  truth 
of  our  facts,  or  of  the  resolution  before  us,  they  would 
give  the  meeting  the  benefit  of  their  opinions,  and  set 
us  right.  No  one  rose  nor  moved  from  his  seat.  A 
considerable  time  elapsed  in  perfect  silence.  Brother 
Pillsbury  privately  asked  us  if  it  were  advisable  to 
offer  anything  farther.  We  advised  him  to  consult  his 
feelings  and  follow  his  duty. 

He  arose,  and  after  alluding  to  the  lateness  of  the 
time  and  the  probability  of  his  wearying  the  audience, 
went  on  to  speak  of  the  effect  produced  by  him  on  the 
last  fourth  of  July  upon  an  auditory  in  that  house  by 
an  anti-slavery  address,  when  nearly  all  the  people, 
ministers  and  all  left  him  at  the  sound  of  martial  music 
which  struck  their  ear  as  it  was  heralding  in  the 
streets  a  liberty  procession  in  honor  of  the  declaration 
of  man's  inalienable  birthright  to  freedom.  He  then 
referred  to  the  resolution,  and  was  proceeding  to 
illustrate  and  enforce  with  striking  power  the  implied 
charge  of  the  unchristian  and  inhuman  character  of 
the  pro-slavery  community,  by  its  fellowshiping  and 
honoring  slave-holding  in  the  professor  and  in  the 
minister  of  the  gospel,  when  he  gave  the  name  of  the 
Reverend  Edwin  Holt,  of  Portsmouth,  as  a  highly 
honored  and  ardently  fellowshiped  instance  of  the 
slave-holding  minister  who  had,  he  averred — bought  a 
woman,  held  her  as  a  slave  and  sold  her  again  and 
deeded  her  away  body  and  soul  to  the  slave  purchaser,, 
and  had  never  repented  of  it  nor  confessed  it,  and 
notwithstanding  was  held  in  high  estimation  by  the 
brotherhood  of  the  ministry.  He  spoke  of  the  impos 
sibility  of  putting  down  slavery  while  slave-holding 
was  so  esteemed — declared  Mr.  Holt's  offence  worse 


176  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

than  killing  the  body  —  that  slavery  was  rightly  esti 
mated  by  Patrick  Henry,  when  he  exclaimed,  "  give  me 
liberty  or  give  me  death  !"  He  was  proceeding  to 
compare  Mr.  Holt  as  a  murderer  with  Ferguson,  the 
Exeter  murderer,  and  to  give  his  offence  the  preemi 
nence,  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Young,  rudely  and  with 
great  excitement  and  violence  of  manner,  broke  in 
upon  him  :  "Mr.  Pillsbury,  Mr.  Pillsbury,  you  must 
stop  !  I  must  protest  solemnly  against  such  slanderous 
accusations  being  thrown  out  in  this  house.  I  cannot 
consent  to  have  my  brethren  in  the  ministry  thus 
slandered  in  my  presence  when  they  have  not  been 
impeached  by  their  brethren,"  and  more  in  like  strain 
and  temper. 

Brother  Pillsbury  calmly  asked  him  :  But  is  not 
what  I  say  true  ?  If  I  have  uttered  anything  slander 
ous  before  this  audience  I  wish  to  be  convinced  of  it 
that  I  may  make  becoming  acknowledgements.  Mr. 
Young  replied,  this  is  not  the  place  to  settle  that — his 
brethren  in  the  ministry  were  the  tribunal  to  settle 
that,  and  he  should  not  discuss  it.  Brother  Pillsbury 
replied  that  any  one  had  a  right  to  state  the  truth,  and 
particularly  such  truth  as  that.  Whereupon  Francis 
Cogswell,  esq.,  rose  and  in  vehement  voice  and  man 
ner  said,  that  as  a  member  of  that  church,  he  would 
not  sit  there  and  see  that  sacred  place  desecrated  by 
the  slanders  that  had  been  thrown  out  by  the  speakers 
that  evening,  and  that  the  meeting  ought  to  break  up, 
etc.,  whereupon  a  voice  of  similar  earnestness  came 
down  upon  us  from  the  gallery  in  the  same  strain, 
accusing  the  speakers  of  slander,  and  of  profaning 
that  holy  place,  (pointing  to  the  foot  of  the  pulpit 
where  we  were  standing)  with  delivering  political 
addresses  on  that  holy  day — and  when  he  had  spoken 
as  long  as  he  wished,  proposed  that  the  meeting  now 
close.  The  speaker,  we  were  sorry  to  see,  was  Colonel 
Andrew  Pierce.  We  immediately  demanded  of  him 
to  state  before  that  audience,  a  single  slanderous  word 
we  had  uttered  that  evening  ;  stated  that  we  submitted 
ourselves  to  the  auditory,  and  if  we  had  said  a  single 
untrue  thing,  or  anything  not  demanded  of  us  as  an 
advocate  of  the  slave  in  their  presence,  we  would 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  177 

retract  it  and  make  them  acknowledgement  to  their 
entire  content.  Col.  Pierce  then  confined  his  accusa 
tion  to  the  other  speakers,  whom  he  said  he  did  not 
know  ;  and  on  our  asking  what  they  had  either  of  them 
said  that  was  slanderous,  he  replied  that  they  had  said 
that  three-fourths  of  the  professors  of  the  religion  in 
the  country  were  on  the  road  to  hell — alluding  to 
brother  Pillsbury's  remark,  that  if  the  resolution  were 
true,  three-fourths  of  the  professed  Christianity  of  the 
country  were  in  the  broad  road  to  death,  and  that  the 
church  and  ministry  of  the  country  were  the  strong 
holds  of  slavery.  There  had  been  no  argument  used, 
he  said,  by  the  speakers,  and  he  declared  there  was  no 
one  in  the  house  who  was  not  opposed  to  slavery.  We 
replied  by  asking  him  if  it  was  not  a  truth  that  the 
church  and  the  ministry  were  the  stronghold  of 
slavery  ?  when  Mr.  Cogswell  again  furiously  interfered 
and  protested  against  further  discussion  and  hoped 
the  meeting  would  break  up  and  go  home  ;  whereupon 
we  were  greeted  with  a  tumultuous  rising  all  at  once, 
a  smart  hissing  from  the  vicinity  of  Messrs.  Pierce 
and  Cogswell,  and  a  violent  slamming  of  seats  and 
going  out  of  the  house  ;  all  of  which  struck  us  as 
savoring  more  of  desecration  of  the  house  than  any 
"words  of  truth  and  soberness"  that  had  been  uttered 
by  the  speakers.  One  rose  out  of  the  auditory  about 
the  middle  stage  of  the  disturbance  and  demanded  to 
know  of  those  who  accused  the  speakers  of  slandering 
Mr.  Holt,  whether  the  accusations  against  him  were 
true — he  wished  for  information  to  know  if  it  were 
denied  by  any  man.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had 
heard  of  it,  and  he  wished  seriously  to  be  informed  if 
Mr.  Holt  had  done  what  was  charged,  and  what  was 
pronounced  slanderous.  The  questioner  was  John 
Parkman,  Unitarian  minister,  whose  position  on  the 
occasion  we  really  respect  too  much  to  attach  to  his 
name  the  unwarrantable  title  of  Reverend.  His 
questions  for  the  moment  hushed  the  tumultuous 
tempest,  but  no  one  answered  him.  We  had  been 
accused  three  times  by  three  different  speakers  of 
slander  in  relation  to  Mr.  Holt,  and  when  a  denial  of 
the  slanderous  charge  was  called  for,  no  man  was  pre- 


178  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

pared  to  deny  it  or  offer  the  least  word  in  support  of 
the  false  and  wicked  accusation  made  against  us. 
Our  meeting  had  been  rudely  and  violently  broken  up, 
and  the  auditory  thrown  into  a  spasm  of  mobocratic 
excitement  by  Messrs.  Young,  Cogswell  and  Pierce 
and  the  speakers  falsely  accused  of  slander,  and  when 
called  on  even  to  deny  the  truth  of  what  was  charged 
as  the  slander,  neither  of  them  had  the  hardihood  to 
deny  its  truth.  Indeed  Rev.  Mr.  Young  shortly  after 
in  private  conversation  at  the  pulpit  foot,  admitted  the 
truth  of  the  charge,  and  said  that  Mr.  Holt  knew  his 
sentiments  in  relation  to  slavery;  that  he  had  pro 
claimed  them  before  the  people  there,  and  that  he 
himself  felt  that  he  could  not  again  exchange  pulpits 
with  Mr.  Holt.  Why  then,  we  asked,  did  you  accuse 
our  brethren  of  slander,  when  you  knew  the  charge 
was  true?  It  was  not  the  charge,  he  said,  but  the 
manner,  and  time,  and  place  !  He  said  Mr.  Holt  had 
not  been  impeached  by  his  brethern.  That  was  the 
very  thing  complained  of,  we  responded  ;  it  was  that 
our  brother  Pillsbury  was  complaining  of,  when  you 
interrupted  him  ;  he  was  charging  that  very  fact  on 
the  ministerial  brethren,  that  they  were  fellowshiping 
a  slave-holder  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  that 
slave-holding  in  their  estimation,  was  no  ground  of 
impeachment.  It  was  an  unhappy  state  of  things  he 
admitted,  but  here  was  not  the  place  to  discuss  it. 
There  was  coming  up  at  this  moment,  a  part  of  the 
audience  who  had  retired. 

About  the  time  the  hissing  commenced,  Mr.  Young 
had  quitted  his  seat  in  the  pew  and  taken  his  place  on 
the  platform  with  us  and  requested  the  people  not  to 
hiss.  In  justice  to  Mr.  Cogswell  we  add  that  we 
understood  by  someone  that  he  endeavored  to  check 
the  hissing  which  took  place  while  he  was  speaking 
and  very  naturally  accompanied  the  furious  tone  in 
which  he  spoke. 

As  the  meeting  was  breaking  up,  brother  Foster 
proposed  that  the  singers  retain  their  places  till  the 
noise  subsided,  that  we  might  close  our  meeting  with 
singing.  The  choir  were  prevented  from  this,  had 
they  been  disposed  to  it,  by  an  immediate  extinguish- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  179 

ment  of  the  lights,  which  took  place  at  the  call  of  some 
one  in  behalf  of  the  disturbance.  "  Put  out  the  lights," 
was  the  cry  in  real  1835  style,  and  we  supposed  it  was 
preparatory  to  a  personal  onset.  After  the  singing 
was  prevented,  and  the  lights  out  in  the  gallery,  and 
silence  restored,  brother  Foster  called  on  Rev. 
Mr.  Young  to  close  the  meeting  with  prayer.  He 
declined,  and  brother  Mack  of  the  Morning  Star,  was 
called  on  and  immediately  complied.  And  his  prayer 
was  most  appropriate  to  the  occasion.  We  told 
Mr.  Young  that  the  whole  violence  and  outrage  were 
chargeable  to  him  ;  and  he  promptly  admitted  it. 
The  lights  were  quickly  extinguished  and  we  were 
left  at  the  foot  of  the  pulpit  stairs  to  grope  our  way 
out  in  utter  darkness  as  best  we  could.  But  we  left 
the  house  unmolested.  The 

people  of  Dover  had  their  option  to  admit  us  to  the 
meeting  house  or  not — they  acted  their  pleasure  as  to 
coming  to  hear  us  ;  they  had  opportunity  any  of  them 
to  reply  to  anything  we  had  said  ;  they  were  so 
apprised  ;  they  were  invited  to  ;  they  were  urged  to. 
They  declined,  and  they  knew  they  could  be  heard 
after  brother  Pillsbury  should  close.  Were  they  not 
bound  then  to  surfer  the  meeting  to  proceed  and  to 
close  in  quiet?  Had  Mr.  Young,  Mr.  Cogswell,  or 
Mr.  Pierce,  either  of  them  a  right  to  excite  the  meet 
ing  as  he  did,  as  they  all  did,  and  hazard  the  disgraceful 
and  infamous  results  of  a  mob,  after  they  had  declined 
an  invitation  to  say  regularly  and  properly  all  they 
wished  to  say  ?  Is  that  their  Christianity  ?  Is  that  their 
respect  for  the  liberty  of  speech  ? 

Such  was  the  account  of  the  Dover  meeting-house 
mob  given  by  the  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Freedom  in 
the  same  week  of  its  occurrence.  If  nothing  was  ex 
tenuated,  surely  nought  was  set  down  in  malice.  But 
it  was  an  act  of  peculiar  aggravation,  when  the  cir 
cumstances  are  put  in  the  record  of  it.  Dover  had  had 
for  several  years  one  of  the  ablest  and  best  Congre 
gational  ministers  in  the  state,  and  certainly  one  of 
the  most  active  in  the  anti-slavery  cause,  Rev.  David 


l8o  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Root.  Nor  was  his  church  as  a  body,  far  behind  him. 
Nor  was  he  by  any  means  among  the  first,  nor  most 
active  in  the  clerical  conspiracy  which  led  or  drove  to 
the  division  and  new  organization.  Had  northern 
clerical  cooperation  and  church  participation  in  all  the 
crimes,  cruelties  and  damning  guilt  of  slavery  never 
been  arraigned,  Dover  had  never  had  a  mob  in  de 
fence  of  such  partnership  in  the  sin.  Had  Mr.  Root 
remained  the  minister  of  that  church,  it  is  hardly 
probable  that  scenes  so  disgraceful  would  have  been 
witnessed.  But  Mr.  Root  had  left  Dover  and  New 
Hampshire,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Young  was  in  his  stead 
straight  from  the  sombre  shades  of  Andover  Theo 
logical  Seminary.  It  was  a  large,  rich  church  and 
society  that  had  settled  and  ordained  him,  and  they 
worshipped  in  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  meeting 
houses  then  in  the  state.  Some  of  us  who  were  with 
Mr.  Young  at  Andover  rather  wondered  at  their  selec 
tion  to  succeed  such  a  man  as  David  Root.  But  so  it 
was,  though  his  stay  in  Dover  was  short,  and  he  early 
abandoned  the  ministry  altogether. 

The  mob  of  that  dark  December  night  was  precipi 
tated  by  the  arraignment  of  Rev.  Edwin  Holt,  of 
Portsmouth,  as  a  slaveholder.  And  yet  Mr.  Young 
knew  the  charge  was  true.  He  admitted  it  to  Mr. 
Rogers  at  the  very  steps  of  the  altar,  before  the 
tumult  had  wholly  ceased.  His  church  must  have 
known  it  was  true.  And  Mr.  Holt  knew  that  Mr. 
Young  knew  it  was  true,  because  Mr.  Young  told  us 
that  Mr.  Holt  knew  what  his  opinion  of  the  business 
was,  and  he  gave  us  to  understand,  doubtless  intended 
that  we  should  understand,  that  he  had  dealt  very 
faithfully  with  him,  as  an  offending  brother.  Why, 
then,  did  he  cry  havoc,  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war 
on  our  meeting  for  free  and  friendly  discussion  ?  A 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  l8l 

meeting,  as  were  all  the  meetings  we  ever  held,  free 
alike  to  our  foes  and  friends.  A  meeting  in  which 
Mr.  Young  or  Mr.  Cogswell,  or  Mr.  Pierce,  could  have 
had  half  of  every  hour,  and  more,  had  he  desired,  to 
contradict  or  disprove  any  statement  of  ours,  about 
Mr.  Holt,  or  anybody,  or  anything  else.  But  the 
truth  was,  there  was  nothing  to  contradict.  We  knew 
whereof  we  affirmed.  That  was  no  new  scene  to  us. 
On  that  very  night,  Foster  had  on  a  coat,  (a  dress  coat 
of  the  style  of  that  time),  one  skirt  of  which  was  torn 
square  off  in  a  violent  mob  at  Portland,  only  the  week 
before,  and  which  coat  he  wore  for  weeks  afterward, 
as  a  testimony  against  Portland  Christianity,  though 
his  friends  very  soon  furnished  him  another. 

No,  it  is  not  very  likely  we  could  be  convicted  of 
false  statements  in  the  face  of  two  or  three  mobs  in  a 
week.  For  we  were  not  courting  persecution.  We 
were  not  ambitious  for  martyr  honors,  nor  confessors' 
crowns.  But  we  spoke  the  truth,  and  if  not  the  whole 
truth,  certainly  nothing  but  the  truth  in  the  love  of 
God  and  man.  And  we  could  not  often  be  success 
fully  contradicted,  as  most  who  heard  us  knew  full 
well. 

Mr.  Young  was  not  countenanced  by  all  his  congre 
gation  in  his  strange  and  unwarrantable  course  on 
that  occasion.  Indeed,  he  was  quite  sharply,  though 
good-naturedly  rebuked  by  one  parishioner  as  we 
groped  our  way  out  in  the  total  darkness.  He  hap 
pened,  unfortunately,  to  tell  us  what  we  could  not 
mistake,  that  it  was  very  dark.  Then  responded  his 
parishioner,  who  could  hear  but  not  see  him,  "  True, 
Brother  Young,  but  it  is  about  as  light  as  you  ever 
make  it  for  us." 


CHAPTER     IX. 

MEETINGS  IN  WEST  CHESTER-RIOTOUS  AND  SHAMEFUL 
CONDUCT— RIDE  TO  DERRY,  AND  WHAT  CAME  OF  IT- 
FRANKLIN  MOB  DESCRIBED  IN  LETTER  BY  MR.  FOSTER. 

That  the  churches  were  indeed  the  bulwarks  of 
slavery  grew  every  day  more  and  mere  apparent. 
And  as  Dover,  and  several  other  of  the  larger  towns 
have  testified,  it  may  be  proper  to  report  briefly  on  a 
few  of  the  smaller  places  we  visited,  such  as  Auburn, 
Chester,  and  Derry.  Auburn  was  at  that  time  known 
as  West  Chester.  Its  church  was  Presbyterian,  its 
minister,  Rev.  Benjamin  Sargent,  already  introduced 
in  these  pages,  venerable  in  years  and  rich  in  the 
graces  of  the  true  Christian  minister  and  man  of  that 
period. 

The  Methodists  had  a  strong  hold  in  West  Chester, 
but  at  the  center  of  the  town,  Congregationalism  held 
undisputed  sway  and  ruled  with  rigor  not  often  sur 
passed.  No  town  ever  more  sternly  or  successfully 
resisted  the  anti-slavery,  or  other  unpopular  reforms. 

In  conversation  with  a  venerable  deacon  of  the 
church  on  the  Indian  question,  so  prominent  at  the 
time  of  the  Seminole  war,  he  declared  to  me  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  country  to  ex 
terminate  the  Indian  tribes  as  completely  as  did  the 
Israelites  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  and  of  Midian'; 
"  killing  everything  that  breathed."  He  said  all  our 
Indian  wars  ever  since  were  God's  judgments,  sent  as 
penalty  for  neglecting  that  duty !  And,  moreover, 
that  they  would  be  inflicted  till  that  duty  was  done. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  -  183 

He  seemed  exactly  of  the  spirit  of  some  Connecticut 
colonists,  who,  it  was  told,  seized  the  territory  under 
two  resolutions,  unanimously  adopted  : 

I.  Resolved — That  the  earth  is  to  be   given  to  the 
saints  as  an  inheritance  forever.     And 

II.  Resolved — That  we,  being  saints,  do  hereby  take 
possession  of  that  portion   of  it  bounded   as   follows, 
etc.,  etc. 

I  never  heard  that  the  Chester  Congregational 
church,  or  its  deacons,  or  minister,  held  ever  after 
wards  any  more  humane  sentiment  towards  the  In 
dians,  or  even  the  slaves,  while  slavery  lasted. 

Our  first  anti-slavery  meeting  at  West  Chester  was 
held  in  the  Methodist  meeting-house  —  adjourned 
there  from  the  school-house,  which  was  too  small  for 
half  who  came,  the  evening  being  Sunday.  Most  of 
the  time  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Foster,  who  paid  the 
Methodists,  who  were  present  in  large  numbers,  the 
compliment  of  presuming  that  they  wished  to  know 
the  exact  truth  as  to  their  connection  with  slavery, 
that  they  might  be  governed  accordingly.  So  he 
opened  Judge  Birney's  tract  and  proceeded  to  read 
exactly  the  record  the  denomination  had  furnished 
for  itself  in  the  past  as  far  back  as  1780  ;  when  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  conference  acknowledges  slavery 
•contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  man  and  nature  ;  and 
hurtful  to  society  ;  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  con 
science  and  true  religion. 

In  1784,  when  the  Methodist  church  had  been  fully 
organized,  rules  were  adopted  fixing  the  time  when 
members  who  were  already  slaveholders  should  eman 
cipate  all  their  slaves,  and  then  followed  this  solemn 
injunction  : 

Every  person  concerned,  who  will  not  comply  with 
these  rules,  shall  have  liberty  quietly  to  withdraw 


184  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

from  our  society  within  the  twelve  months  following 
the  notice  being  given  him  as  aforesaid.  Otherwise,  the 
assistants  shall  exclude  him  from  the  society.  No 
person  holding  slaves  shall  be  admitted  into  our 
society  or  to  the  Lord's  supper,  till  he  comply  with 
these  rules  concerning  slavery.  And  those  who  buy, 
sell  or  give  away  slaves,  unless  on  purpose  to  free 
them,  shall  be  immediately  expelled. 

And  then,  again,  in  1801,  the  conference  declared  : 
We  declare  that  we  are  more  than  ever  convinced 
of  the  great  evils  of  African  slavery,  which  still  ex 
ists  in  these  United  States.  *****  Every 
member  of  the  society  who  sells  a  slave  shall,  imme 
diately  after  full  proof,  be  excluded.  ***** 
Proper  committees  shall  be  appointed  by  the  annual 
conferences  out  of  the  most  respectable  of  our  friends, 
for  the  conducting  of  the  business.  And  the  presid 
ing  elders,  deacons,  and  traveling  preachers  shall  pro 
cure  as  many  proper  signatures  as  possible  to  the 
addresses  :  and  give  all  the  assistance  in  their  power 
in  every  respect  to  aid  the  committees  and  to  further 
the  blessed  undertaking.  Let  this  be  continued  from 
year  to  year,  till  the  desired  end  be  accomplished. 

So  much,  and  more  of  the  same  character,  Mr. 
Foster  had  in  hand  to  read  to  the  Methodists  who  on 
that  evening  composed  a  large  proportion  of  our  nu 
merous  audience.  And  so  much  he  read  to  the  credit 
of  early  Methodism.  But  then  he  had  to  unfold  and 
expose  the  terrible  degeneracy  and  apostacy  in  a 
single  generation.  And  this  was  his  offence,  though 
his  testimony  was  still  as  before  only  what  the  denom 
ination  itself  furnished  him. 

In  the  year  1836  the  general  conference  was  held  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  adopted  with  only  fourteen  dis 
senting  voices  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  By  the  delegates  of  the  annual  confer 
ences  in  general  conference  assembled,  that  we  are 
decidedly  opposed  to  modern  abolitionism  ;  and  wholly 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  185 

disclaim  any  right,  wish,  or  intention  to  interfere  in 
the  civil  and  political  relation  between  master  and 
slave  as  it  exists  in  the  slave  holding  states  of  this 
Union. 

And  this  resolution,  though  ample  to  the  purpose  of 
Foster,  was  a  small  part  of  the  stunning  testimony  he 
presented  to  show  that  the  northern  Methodists  were 
fully  as  guilty  as  their  southern  brethren  of  all  the 
abominations  of  slave  holding.  For  instance,  he  cited 
the  declarations  of  the  most  eminent  northern  minis 
ters  and  doctors  of  Methodist  divinity.  Rev.  Dr.  Fisk, 
president  of  the  Wesleyan  university  of  Connecticut,, 
said  and  published  to  this  effect  : 

The  relation  of  master  and  slave  may,  and  does 
exist  in  many  cases,  under  such  circumstances  as  free 
the  master  from  the  just  charge  and  guilt  of  immor 
ality.  The  text,  i  Cor.,  yth  chap.,  20  to  23d  verse, 
seems  mainly  to  enjoin  and  sanction  the  fitting  con 
tinuance  of  their  present  social  relations.  The  free 
man  was  to  remain  free,  and  the  slave,  unless  eman 
cipation  should  offer,  was  to  remain  a  slave.  The 
general  rule  of  Christianity,  not  only  permits,  but  in 
supposable  cases,  enjoins  a  continuance  of  the  master's- 
authority.  The  New  Testament  enjoins  obedience  upon 
the  slave,  as  an  obligation  due  to  rightful  authority. 

Only  so  much  from  a  great  deal  by  Dr.  Fiske,  in  like 
vein  and  tone.  And  this  one  baptismal  seal  by  Bishop 
Hedding,  then  living  in  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  as  read 
in  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  : 

The  right  to  hold  a  slave  is  founded  on  this  rule  : 
"  Therefore,  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them,  for  this  is 
the  law  and  the  prophets." 

The  argument  of  Mr.  Foster  enraged  as  much,  as 
surprised  the  Methodist  portion  of  the  audience.  He 
showed  slavery  to  be  wholesale  adultery  and  concubin 
age,  and  that  all,  who  upheld  it  by  fellowshiping  it 


l86  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

as  Christians,  or  fit  to  be  regarded  with  anything  less 
than  abhorrence  and  execration,  were  partakers  in 
those  sins  and  shames.  He  proved,  that  Methodist 
•church  members  and  ministers  had  held,  or  still  held 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  slaves,  while  pretending  to 
•detest  slavery  and  to  be  seeking  its  overthrow;  holding 
them  as  "goods  and  chattels,"  robbing  them  of  mar 
riage,  and  dooming  them  to  perpetual  prostitution,  till 
the  southern  Methodist  church  had  made  itself  a  great 
house  of  ill-fame,  a  vast  brothel,  into  which  the  Son 
•of  God  himself,  in  the  person  of  his  forlorn  brethren 
.and  sisters,  was  continually  and  hopelessly  cast!  He 
declared  no  house  of  ill-fame  in  New  York  was  guilty 
•of  such  fearful  impiety,  such  frightful  abomination. 
For  there  the  victim  or  the  guilty  could  flee  out  and 
escape,  while  in  the  churches  they  were  held,  were 
compelled  by  both  religion  and  government,  to  stay 
and  endure,  even  though  their  soul  and  spirit  were 
pure  as  the  angels  of  God  ! 

Mr.  Foster  was  heard  an  hour  or  more  with  com 
parative  order  and  attention.  Suddenly  a  man  rose 
in  great  agitation,  much  as  a  drunken  man  or  lunatic 
some  times  did  in  our  meetings,  and  demanded  proof 
of  what  had  been  said.  Nothing  needed  proving,  as 
the  church  and  clergy  supplied  all  the  argument,  and 
the  inferences  were  as  self-evident  as  heat  from  fire, 
or  light  from  the  heavens.  But  instead  of  drunkard 
or  lunatic,  the  man  proved  to  be  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  that  very  church,  and  it  required  the  aid 
of  some  of  his  brethren  to  quiet  him  and  restore  the 
order  of  the  meeting.  Foster  then  opened  the  Bible 
and  read  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Revelation  down 
to  the  thirteenth  verse,  and  sat  down,  leaving  the  re 
maining  time  to  me. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  187 

The  verse  containing  the  injunction  :  "  Come  out 
of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her 
sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues,"  read  in 
Mr.  Foster's  deep,  earnest,  solemn  tones,  produced  a 
deep  impression  ;  and  a  man  rose  with  much  apparent 
sincerity  and  asked  :  "  Would  it  not  be  better  to  re 
main  in  the  churches  and  reform  them  ?  "  He,  too, 
was  a  Methodist  brother  and,  we  were  told,  was  a  re 
formed  inebriate.  Had  I  known  that  at  the  time,  I 
should  have  asked  him  whether  dram-shops  and 
brothels  were  fit  haunts  for  those  who  had  abandoned 
them,  even  to  save  the  still  lost  ones,  when  everything 
and  more  could  be  done,  and  better  done,  from  the 
outside  ?  and  especially  if  remaining  within,  or 
going  within,  involved  eating  of  the  same  loaf  and 
drinking  the  same  cup  with  the  guilty. 

But  as  it  was,  I  asked  why  Wesley  did  not  remain 
in  the  old  Episcopal  church  ?  Why  not  so  preach  his 
doctrine  as  not  to  create  schism  and  separation  ?  I 
asked  if  Unitarians  or  Universalists  were  ever  exhorted 
to  remain  in  their  communion  and  work  reform  there, 
Instead  of  coming  out  and  uniting  with  the  more 
evangelical  churches  into  whose  faith  they  had  been 
converted.  On  the  question  of  changing  their  religious 
preferences  or  beliefs,  by  leaving  their  pro-slavery 
communions  to  become  abolitionists,  I  remarked  that 
no  such  change  would  be  required.  I  said,  do  you 
wish  or  prefer  to  be  a  Methodist  ?  Then  be  a  Metho 
dist  with  all  your  heart  ;  be  such  a  Methodist  as  was 
Wesley  who  declared  slavery  "the  sum  of  all  villanies" 
which  must  brand  a  slave-holder  as  the  sum  of  all  vil 
lains  ;  such  a  Methodist  as  was  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  your 
own  great  Bible  Commentator,  who  said  and  wrote  : 
"  If  one  place  in  hell  is  hotter  than  any  other,  that 
place  should  be  appropriated  to  slave-holders."  To 


1 88  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

the  Presbyterian  and  Congregationalist,  my  doctrine 
was  substantially  the  same.  To  the  Baptist,  I  asked, 
do  you  wish  to  be  a  Baptist,  and  be  immersed  bodily 
in  the  beautiful  Massabesic,  whose  waves  roll  in  here- 
almost  to  our  very  feet  ?  no  abolitionist  shall  say  you 
nay.  Only  carry  out  your  own  avowed  principles,  and 
inasmuch  as  you  will  not  drink  the  sacramental  wine 
with  such  as  have  only  been  sprinkled  with  clean 
water  in  baptism,  or  with  such  as  will  commune  with 
them,  they  themselves  having  been  immersed,  so  in, 
relation  to  slave-holders.  Have  no  religious  fellow 
ship  with  them,  nor  with  any  who  do  commune  with 
them  as  Christians.  Exclude  the  slave-holder  and  all 
who  will  not  exclude  the  slave-holder.  Not  that  I  hold 
to  your  doctrine  of  "Close  Communion,"  as  it  is  called  : 
but  that  is  your  affair,  not  mine.  Your  right  of 
religious  freedom  is  as  good  as  mine,  and  shall  be 
respected  and  defended  by  me  as  sacredly  as  my  own^ 
Only  be  consistent  in  other  particulars  as  well  as  in 
that  already  suggested.  And  that  is,  do  not  make, 
infant  baptism  a  greater  heresy,  (more  damnable- 
heresy,  the  apostle  would  call  it,)  than  infant  stealing;, 
robbing  cradles  of  their  priceless  contents,  and  help 
less  mothers  of  their  innocent  babes.  Do  not  exclude 
from  fellowship  the  infant  sprinkler,  and  then  welcome, 
the  infant-stealer,  the  cradle-robber,  the  trundle-bed- 
plunderer  to  pulpit  and  sacramental  supper,  as  of  the 
same  "one  lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism"  with  your 
selves.  That,  I  said,  is  all  we  abolitionists  have  a  right 
to  ask. 

The  meeting  closed  at  a  late  hour,  in  good  order, 
and  apparently,  in  the  main,  friendly  spirit.  We 
appointed  meetings  for  Monday  and  Tuesday  even 
ings,  the  latter  in  the  school-house  of  the  village  where 
we  then  were. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  189 

On  Monday  I  met  the  Methodist  minister,  and  held 
with  him  a  long  conversation.  He  assured  me  he 
would  gladly  attend  our  meetings  and  hold  discussion 
with  us,  but  his  engagements  rendered  it  impossible. 
He  gravely  charged  Mr.  Foster  and  myself  with  incul 
cating  the  most  wicked  and  abominable  sentiments  ; 
accused  us  of  the  grossest  misrepresentation  and 
.falsehood  on  the  previous  evening,  and  said  he  should 
take  a  public  opportunity  after  we  were  gone  to  expose 
us.  I  told  him  he  should  have  been  at  our  meeting 
of  last  evening  and  heard  for  himself ;  for  it  was  evi 
dent  he  knew  nothing  at  all  about  what  was  said  or 
done.  He  insisted  that  he  had  full  confidence  in  his 
informant,  though  it  was  plain  that  he  had  talked  with 
none  better  than  the  half-crazed  being,  who  so  rudely 
and  wildly  interrupted  our  proceedings.  But  I  again 
invited  him  in  most  cordial  manner  to  come  to  our 
meetings,  and  proposed  to  go  in  to  one  of  his,  but  he 
gave  me  no  further  attention. 

When  we  went  to  our  meeting  on  that  evening,  we 
found  the  school-house  door  locked  against  us.  This 
was  done  by  a  prominent  member  of  the  Methodist 
•church,  on  his  own  responsibility  ;  in  full  assurance 
that  anti-slavery  sinners  had  no  rights  that  Methodist 
•saints  could  be  bound  to  respect.  A  noble  and  gener 
ous-hearted  man  of  the  world,  opened  his  commodious 
•dwelling,  and  there  we  held  our  meeting.  The  Pres 
byterians  were  holding  their  monthly  concert  of  prayer 
for  the  heathen,  close  by,  and  at  the  same  hour. 
Mr.  Foster  left  me  to  conduct  our  meeting,  and  went 
into  the  Presbyterian's  concert  of  prayer  and  was  per 
mitted  to  address  them  a  half  hour,  as  afterward 
appeared  to  effective  purpose.  And  whom  should  he 
meet  there  cheek  by  jowl  with  the  rest,  but  my  Metho 
dist  minister,  who  in  the  morning,  assured  me  he 


190      ACTS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  APOSTLES. 

would  certainly  attend  our  meeting,  "but  for  positive 
engagements ! "  He  had  passed  directly  by  our 
meeting,  and  gone  to  a  Presbyterian  concert  of  prayer  ; 
what  he  had  never  in  his  life  done  before,  and  in  all 
probability,  never  did  again. 

Mr  Foster  addressed  the  concert  on  the  character 
and  conduct  of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Mis 
sions  in  regard  to  the  heathenism  of  our  slave  system 
at  home.  He  showed  how  the  treasury  of  the  Board 
was  replenished  by  robbery.  Man-stealers,  and  the 
buyers  and  sellers  of  stolen  men,  women  and  children,, 
not  only  contributors  to,  but  controllers,  with  other 
officers,  of  the  moneys  raised — the  price  of  blood,  the 
very  blood  of  Christ  himself,  in  the  person  of  his 
children  and  little  ones,  the  price  of  his  blood  given 
in  contributions  to  publish  his  name  to  the  distant 
tribes  of  Africa,  and  the  heathen  world  !  Showing 
from  Judge  Birney's  American  Churches,  the  Bulwarks 
of  American  Slavery,  that  the  Board  even  had  slaves 
bequeathed  in  will  to  its  funds,  by  pious  persons  at  the 
south.  It  was  said  that  in  the  case  cited  by  Judge 
Birney,  the  bequest  was  not  accepted  ;  but  the  reason 
probably  was,  that  to  receive  it,  involved  attendance 
"on  the  part  of  all  who  claimed  it"  at  the  Superior 
Court  of  Bryan  county,  in  the  state  of  Georgia.  None 
will  doubt  this  when  that  stupendous  body,  the  Amer 
ican  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 
shall  come  hereafter  into  these  chronicles  for  examin 
ation.  On  the  next  morning,  Mr.  Foster  was  told  by 
some  who  heard  him  at  the  concert,  that  the)'  had 
withheld  their  contributions,  never  before  having 
dreamed  that  the  American  Board  was  sustained  by 
robbery,  and  controlled  in  part  by  man-stealers. 

In  the  course  of  Tuesday,  we  learned  that  attempts 
were  making  to  close  the  school-house  against  us  on, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  19! 

that  evening  also.  The  plan  was  frustrated  by  our 
friends  who  secured  the  key.  Then  a  riot  was  con 
certed  ;  we  knew  that,  because  the  zealous  Methodist, 
who,  on  Sunday  evening  came  so  near  utterly  routing 
us,  told  us  he  "  had  labored  hard  more  than  three 
hours,  to  prevent  a  riot  this  evening."  We  always 
knew  well  what  to  expect,  when  ministers  and  other 
like  good  and  influential  men  told  us  how  much  they 
feared  a  mob,  and  how  hard  they  were  working  to 
prevent  it,  and  how  they  hoped  that  now  there  would 
be  no  mob. 

On  this  occasion,  we  had  a  large  attendance,  and 
the  best  and  most  respectful  attention  to  the  close. 
But  the  Methodist  minister  did  not  appear.  Our 
zealous  Methodist  friend,  who  had  labored  three 
hours  to  prevent  a  riot,  was  conspicuously  absent. 
Some  others,  also,  who  had  been  quite  demonstrative 
in  defence  of  the  church  and  clergy,  especially  the 
Methodist  church  and  minister  of  that  place,  were  ab 
sent,  in  body,  to  say  the  least. 

All  this  absence  was  easily  accounted  for  when  we 
came  out.  The  evening  was  dark  and  rainy.  Several 
had  brought  lanterns.  Our  horse  and  carriage  stood 
outside,  with  others,  but  ours  had  been  singularly  dis 
tinguished.  Past  experience  had  taught  us  that  it 
might  be  so,  especially  when  good  men  "  had  labored 
hard  to  prevent  our  being  mobbed."  Borrowing  a 
friendly  lantern,  we  discovered  that  all  the  upholstery 
of  the  carriage,  (a  new  comfortable,  covered  buggy,) 
cushions,  whip,  reins  and  valisses,  had  been  deeply 
"daubed,"  not  with  the  untempered  Methodist  "mor 
tar  "  of  those  days,  nor  the  super-fragrant  eggs  of 
Sanbornton  Bridge,  which  our  readers  cannot  have 
forgotten,  but  with  an  anointing  quite  as  unsavory 
and  unclean,  furnished  by  some  grass-fed  and  well 


IQ2  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

fed  Chester  cow.  The  Methodist  minister,  a  Mr. 
Quimby,  had  assured  me  he  would  be  with  us  that 
evening  and  take  part  in  our  meeting,  but  for  positive 
pre-engagement.  He  was  surely  well  represented 
outside  the  school-house,  and  had  no  need  to  attend 
himself. 

Next  day  but  one,  all  damages  were  repaired  in 
time  for  us  to  drive  over  to  Derry.  There,  again,  we 
fell  into  Methodist  hands.  Both  the  Congregational 
and  Presbyterian  pulpits  and  churches  had  long  be 
fore  proved  themselves  impervious  to  anti-slavery 
truth  by  word  or  deed.  Accidentally,  we  encountered 
the  Methodist  minister,  Mr.  Hazeltine,  who  seemed  to 
speak  us  kindly,  and  tendered  us  his  meeting-house 
for  two  evenings.  We  blessed  and  thanked  him  de 
voutly,  and  soon  had  notices  posted  about  the  village 
accordingly.  Then  we  drove  away  two  or  three  miles, 
to  look  up  some  abolitionists  of  whom  we  had  heard 
but  never  seen,  and  to  extend,  as  widely  as  possible, 
notice  of  our  meetings.  At  the  hour  appointed  we 
were  at  the  meeting-house,  but,  to  our  surprise  and 
disappointment,  we  found  the  door  locked  against  us. 
Nor  was  anybody  in  sight  of  whom  we  could  ask  ex 
planations.  We  went  into  a  shoemaker's  shop  to  make 
inquiry,  and  were  told  "the  brethren"  had  been  to 
gether,  and  unanimously  vetoed  the  kindly  offer  of 
their  minister.  We  demanded  of  the  minister,  who 
came  in,  what  the  strange  procedure  meant.  He  said 
that  since  he  had  offered  us  the  house  he  had  seen 
the  West  Chester  minister,  who,  it  appeared,  had 
scampered  down  after  us  as  quick  as  possible,  to 
sound  an  alarm,  and  that  he  had  given  such  report  of 
our  meetings  in  his  parish  that  it  was  not  deemed  ad 
visable  to  have  anything  to  do  with  us.  For  his  own 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  193 

part,  he  said,  he  was  still  in  favor  of  our  having  the 
meeting-house,  but  the  Discipline  did  not  warrant  it, 
as  he  had  not  appointed  the  meetings. 

It  somehow  got  abroad  in  the  village  that  we  were 
in  the  shoemaker's  shop,  and  very  soon  the  room,  en 
try,  steps  and  all,  were  thronged  with  a  noisy,  babbling 
rabble  that  it  would  wrong  the  real  brutes  to  call 
brutal,  all  burning  with  indignation,  because,  as  they 
most  vociferously  declared,  we  were  seeking  to  tear 
down  the  Church  and  the  Sabbath.  I  never  met  a 
more  abusive  gang  in  any  grog-shop.  We  congratu 
lated  the  minister  on  the  number  and  quality  of  his 
defenders.  The  three  most  prominent,  the  actual 
leaders,  were  all  members  of  his  own  church.  One  of 
these  taunted  Foster  with  wrearing  spectacles.  This 
raised  a  great  laugh.  I  asked  the  man,  "  Do  you 
know  God  could,  with  one  lightning  flash,  so  blind 
you  that,  even  with  spectacles,  you  could  never  see 
more  ?  "  Another  of  them  said,  "  The  Chester  Meth 
odist  minister  was  here  to-day,  and  told  us  you  called 
his  church  a  brothel."  Then  one  cried  out,  "O,  they 
know  what  a  brothel  is!"  which  raised  a  yell  of  glee, 
with  clappings  and  stampings  that  shook  the  whole 
building.  "  Yes,  yes,"  bawled  another,  "their  looks 
show  it."  And  this,  to  them,  minister  and  all,  seemed 
to  clinch  the  argument  wholly  in  their  favor.  The 
victory  was  theirs.  We  admitted  it,  and  left  the  town 
to  celebrate  and  enjoy  it  to  all  hearts'  content.  I 
never  heard  that  a  genuine  anti-slavery  meeting  was 
ever  held  in  that  town.  There  might  have  been. 
Doubtless,  New  Organization  lecturing  might  have 
been  called  in  to  take  away  the  reproach  and  shame 
of  driving  away  the  earnest  and  devoted  abolitionists, 
who  had  taken  their  lives  in  their  hands  and  gone 
forth  everywhere,  proclaiming  liberty  to  the  captive, 


194  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

whether  guilty  men  and  ministers  would  hear,  or 
whether  they  would  forbear.  Both  those  ministers 
were  New  Organizationists  of  most  Pharisaic  type. 
And  both  declared  they  preached,  themselves,  once  a 
year,  on  slavery,  though  they  always  selected  Fast  or 
Thanksgiving  day  for  that  subject.  And  both  seemed 
to  think  that  entitled  them  to  our  acceptance  and 
respect  as  abolitionists.  As  we  drove  slowly  out  of 
the  village,  in  the  dark  evening,  and  with  sad  hearts, 
the  crowd  of  "brethren"  and  others  from  the  shoe 
maker's  shop  pursued  us  with  their  shouting  and 
howling,  some  of  them  seizing  our  carriage  wheels 
and  holding  back  so  that  our  poor  little  Tunbridge 
had  hard  work  to  pull  us  out  of  their  power.  What 
they  wanted  was  to  provoke  us  to  resistance.  Then 
they  would  have  taken  sweet  revenge  by  violence  on 
our  persons,  perhaps  to  the  extent  of  Lovejoy's  mur 
derers  at  the  west,  a  few  years  before.  We  never 
doubted  that  our  non-resistance  principles  saved  our 
lives  in  many  a  desperate  encounter.  And  in  them 
and  their  heroic  Author  we  confidingly  reposed  our 
trust.  Nor  surely,  under  the  circumstances,  could 
we  have  pursued  a  wiser  course,  whatever  might  have 
been  our  principles.  For  we  stood  almost  always 
nearly  alone  against  the  towns,  at  first. 

In  the  account  thus  given  of  our  reception  in  some 
of  the  smaller  or  average  New  Hampshire  towns,  the 
object  can  hardly  be  mistaken.  Almost  exactly  such 
reports  could  be  extended  to  length  beyond  human 
patience  and  endurance.  And  without  going  out  of 
New  Hampshire,  or  including  any  other  persons  than 
the  three  already  named,  the  editor  of  the  Herald  of 
Freedom,  Mr.  Foster  and  myself. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  we  did  not 
find  or  make  excellent  friends  and  glad  co-workers 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  195 

with  us  in  our  mighty  mission.  We  lived,  when 
abroad,  much  of  the  time  on  the  fat  of  the  land  ; 
only  metaphorically  as  to  the/iz/,  for  we  entered  the  field 
vegetarians,  and  Foster  so  continued  till  age,  infirmity 
and  medical  men  counselled  him  otherwise,  though 
possibly,  neither  wisely  nor  well.  I  always  doubted 
it.  We  collected  money,  and  in  two  years  paid  off 
the  society-debt  and  bought  press  and  type  and  office 
appointments  for  the  Herald  of  Freedom.  We  broke 
down  the  Democratic  party  soon  after,  and  did  vast 
damage  to  many  pro-slavery  churches  and  pulpits  by 
exposing  them  to  the  light  of  day  and  truth.  My 
salary  the  first  year  was  exactly  eighty-three  cents  a 
day.  The  second  year  I  was  voted  four  hundred  dol 
lars,  all  collections  above  that  sum  to  be  paid  into  the 
treasury  of  the  society.  And  Mr.  Foster's  pay  was 
probably  less,  but  he  often  insisted  on  a  too  liberal 
division  with  me,  on  the  ground  that  I  had  a  wife  and 
he  had  none. 

In  West  Chester  were,  besides  Rev.  Mr.  Sargent, 
whose  faithfulness  cost  him  his  pulpit,  Mr.  Benjamin 
and  Mr.  Amos  Chase,  not  brothers,  only  in  soul  and 
spirit,  whose  anti-slavery  devotion  was  too  deep  and 
divine  for  human  praise.  Sadly  as  our  carriage  suf 
fered,  they  did  not  permit  it  nor  us  to  leave  the  place 
till  all  damage  was  repaired  and  everything  rendered 
clean  and  sweet,  and  new,  so  far  as  necessary.  Once 
afterwards  Lucy  Stone  and  myself  had  an  engage 
ment  there,  and  no  conveyance  could  be  had  nearer 
than  two  miles  and  a  half.  Two  or  three  inches  of 
snow  had  fallen  that  day,  and  the  road  we  had  to  take 
was  through  woods,  and  not  a  track  had  been  made. 
No  conveyance  possible,  I  proposed  to  walk  on  to 
Amos  Chase's  and  send  him  back  for  my  companion, 
while  I  would  commence  the  meeting  alone.  To  this- 


196  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Lucy  bravely  objected,  saying  her  bloomer  dress  and 
calf-skin  boots,  made  like  mine,  would  carry  her  safely 
through  with  me  on  foot.  And  they  did.  She  was 
hardly  willing  to  allow  me  to  carry  her  bag  a  part  of 
the  way.  It  was  pitch  dark  some  time  before  we  ar 
rived,  and  the  soft,  damp  snow  had  wet  our  feet  as 
though  we  had  walked  in  water  all  the  way.  Mr. 
Chase  insisted  that  I  should  wear  his  boots  to  the 
meeting,  and  socks,  as  well.  The  family  took  Lucy 
away,  and,  as  she  told  me  next  day,  put  her  in  a  com 
plete  change  from  head  to  foot,  which  perspiration, 
added  to  the  wet  snow,  had  made  absolutely  neces 
sary.  Had  West  Chester  been  Derry  on  that  night, 
our  situation  must  have  been  deplorable  indeed.  But 
we  knew  into  what  hands  we  should  fall,  and  so 
trudged  cheerily,  though  wearily  on,  through  darkness, 
forest  and  snow.  Mr.  Benjamin  Chase  still  lives,  an 
honor  and  ornament  to  the  best  rural  society  of  the 
Granite  state. 

Most  of  the  mob  violence  yet  described,  has  been 
rather  of  the  harmless  sort,  so  far  as  bodily  injury  is 
considered,  since  Mr.  Foster  and  myself  together  took 
the  field.  And  Mr.  Foster  has  hardly  yet  been  heard 
through  the  Herald  columns.  He  shall  now  have  his 
turn,  and  readers  will  soon  see  to  what  purpose. 

In  the  same  month,  (or  within  four  weeks,  a  part  of 
two  months),  of  our  Chester  and  Derry  encounters,  we 
attempted  to  hold  some  meetings  in  Franklin.  I  told 
Foster  it  rather  appeared  to  me  that  he  could  give  a 
better  account  of  our  experiences  there  than  any  one 
else,  and  besides,  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  do  part 
of  the  reporting,  were  it  only  for  the  sake  of  variety. 
Though  dreading  a  pen  almost  as  much  as  a  sword, 
in  his  own  hand,  he  reluctantly  consented  ;  and  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  197 

following  description,  every  word,  every  way  as  truth 
ful  as  it  is  graphic,  is  his  own  verbatim  letter,  as  in 
the  Herald  of  Freedom,  of  November  igth,  1841  : 

ANOTHER    MOB THE    PULPIT    ITS    ORIGIN. 

To  the   Rev.    Isaac  Knight,  pastor  of  the    Congrega 
tional  Church  in  Franklin  : 

SIR — Impelled  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  you,  to  your 
flock  and  the  public,  I  sit  down  to  address  you  relative 
to  the  recent  outrage  that  was  perpetrated  upon  an 
anti-slavery  meeting  in  your  parish,  and  by  persons 
under  your  immediate  supervision.  That  transaction 
has  inflicted  a  blot  upon  the  character  of  your  once 
respectable  village,  which  time  will  not  soon  efface. 
It  has  degraded  it  in  the  eyes  of  all  who  respect 
either  the  laws  of  God  or  man,  by  openly  setting  both 
at  defiance,  trampling  under  foot  the  rights  of  the  de 
fenceless  and  unresisting,  and  spurning  every  appeal 
to  the  claims  of  justice,  humanity  and  pure  religion. 
That  savages  and  barbarians,  whose  trade  is  war,  and 
whose  only  law  is  the  dictates  of  unchastened  pas 
sion,  should  occasionally  indulge  in  acts  of  brutal 
violence,  is  not  surprising.  But  a  mob  among  Chris 
tians,  under  the  very  eye  of  the  pulpit,  and  in  de 
fence  of  that  pulpit  fills  the  mind  with  astonishment- 
It  is  sad  proof  that  the  pulpit  and  mob  are  identical 
in  spirit  and  coincident  in  their  aims  ! 

My  object  in  this  communication  is  to  call  the  at 
tention  of  all  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  read  it,  to 
the  origin  of  those  disgraceful  proceedings,  which 
have  earned  for  Franklin  the  unenviable  reputation  of 
having  riotously  broken  up  and  dispersed  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting  ;  but  more  especially  to  hold  up  a 
mirror  in  which  you  will  be  able  to  see  your  own 
character  and  that  of  your  fellow  craftsmen.  Like 
David  in  the  matter  of  Uriah  and  Saul  of  Tarsus  in 
the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  you  are  doubtless  uncon 
scious  of  your  guilt.  But  will  not  posterity  and  a 
coming  judgment  assign  to  you  the  authorship  of 
that  outrage  ? 

Was  it  not  through  your  influence,  aided  by  that  of 
your  clerical  coadjutors,  that  your  parishioners  were 
induced  to  trample  upon  their  own  laws,  brutally 


198  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  . 

assault  the  friends  of  liberty,  and  transmute  the  quiet 
.and  security  of  their  village  into  uproar  and  lawless 
violence  ?  Such  I  solemnly  believe  to  be  the  fact. 
Am  I  mistaken  in  this  opinion  ?  Let  a  rehearsal  of 
the  scenes  of  that  dismal  night,  and  of  your  con 
temptuous  treatment  of  the  anti-slavery  cause  on  the 
previous  Sunday,  answer.  Notice  had  been  givyen, 
through  the  Herald,  that  brother  Pillsbury  and  my 
self  would  hold  anti-slavery  meetings  in  your  parish 
on  Sunday  and  Monday  evenings,  in  which  all  parties 
would  be  allowed  a  hearing,  and  in  the  discussions  of 
which  all  would  be  allowed  to  participate.  Your 
meeting-house  was  closed  against  these  meetings,  and 
you  were  generally  understood  to  regard  them  as  a 
.nuisance,  and  those  who  were  to  conduct  them  as  in 
fidels  and  "dangerous  men."  You  had  said  that  you 
"would  sooner  co-operate  with  fiends  from  perdition 
than  with  them."  So  inveterate  was  your  hostility, 
that  our  friends  thought  it  useless  to  ask  you  to  read 
a  notice  of  the  meetings.  One  was,  however,  posted 
up  within  the  walls  of  your  meeting-house.  But  it 
soon  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  piety  and  loyalty  of  your 
parishioners,  and  shared  a  kindred  fate  with  the  meet 
ing  it  was  designed  to  notify. 

No  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  people  of  Franklin 
regard  you  as  their  spiritual  guide.  Your  opinion  on 
all  moral  subjects  is  their  supreme  law.  Wherever 
you  lead,  they  implicitly  follow.  What  you  recom 
mend,  they  cordially  support.  What  you  repudiate, 
they  feel  religiously  bound  to  oppose.  I  knew  this, 
and  that  your  hostility  to  anti-slavery  would,  in  all 
probability,  deter  most  of  them  from  attending  our 
meetings.  I  knew,  also,  that  they  were  profoundly 
ignorant  of  the  character  of  our  enterprise,  and  of 
their  own  guilt  as  accomplices  and  abettors  of  south 
ern  man-stealers,  and  that  they  were  likely  to  remain 
so.  To  enlighten,  and,  if  possible,  to  reclaim  them 
from  the  idolatrous  worship  of  a  slave-holding  religion 
to  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  was  my  aim  and 
purpose.  For  that  purpose  I  attended  the  meeting 
-over  which  you  have  assumed  the  authority  of  a 
"  Rabbi,"  which  is  to  say,  being  interpreted,  (a) 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  199 

Master.  In  doing  this,  I  was  clearly  within  the  rights 
guaranteed  to  me  in  the  New  Testament.  The  meet 
ing  was  public.  Everybody  was  invited  to  attend, 
and  by  the  law  of  God,  which  you  profess  to  preach, 
all  who  were  present  had  an  equal  right  to  speak.  I 
chose  to  avail  myself  of  that  right  in  behalf  of  the 
despairing  bondsman,  who  has  neither  Bible,  Sabbath 
day  nor  marriage  institution.  But,  no  sooner  had  I 
commenced  speaking  than  the  house  was  thrown  into 
utmost  disorder  and  confusion  through  your  agency. 
Your  abrupt  descent  from  ''the  sacred  desk,"  and 
exit  from  the  house,  was  the  signal  for  a  general  re 
treat.  The  meeting-house  was  instantly  in  uproar. 
Seeing  their  "guide"  retire,  about  two-thirds  of  the 
vassal  audience  immediately  followed  But  they  went 
out  at  your  beck,  and  not  prompted  by  their  own  con 
sciences.  They  were  anxious  to  hear,  but  were  afraid 
of  displeasing  their  master.  But,  having  satisfied  the 
claims  of  the  pulpit,  as  they  supposed,  by  leaving  the 
room,  most  of  them  remained  in  the  entry,  literally 
choking  up  the  doors,  so  desirous  were  they  of  hear 
ing  what  I  had  to  say.  A  few  had  the  courage  to  re 
turn  and  resume  their  seats  after  you  had  left. 

Evening  came,  and  brought  together  an  unusually 
large  number  for  an  anti-slavery  meeting,  but  your 
seat  was  vacant.  "  Here  are  the  sheep,"  thought  I, 
as  the  seats  of  the  capacious  town  hall  were  rapidly 
filling  up  with  men  and  women,  some  of  whom  were 
from  a  distance  of  three  or  four  miles,  "but,  where  is 
the  shepherd  ?  He  fancies  they  have  broken  loose 
from  the  fold,  and  that  wolves  are  among  them.  Has 
he  left  them  and  fled?  Is  he  indeed  a  hireling?" 

The  exercises  of  the  evening  elicited  a  good  degree 
of  interest.  After  some  preliminary  remarks  from 
brother  Pillsbury,  I  addressed  the  meeting  for  nearly 
two  hours,  on  the  slave-holding  character  of  the 
American  church  and  ministry.  The  audience  was 
unusually  solemn  and  listened  with  marked  attention 
and  much  apparent  interest  and  conviction,  while  the 
religious  professions  of  the  country  were  successfully 
shown  to  be  at  war  with  Christianity,  and  to  constitute 
the  main  bulwark  of  slavery.  Every  sect  in  the  country 


200  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

was  shown  to  be  more  or  less  contaminated  with  the 
spirit  of  slave-holding,  while  in  most  of  them,  man-steal 
ing  is  not  a  disciplinary  offence.  Nor  is  it  regarded  as  a 
sin,  as  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  many  of  their 
most  popular  ministers  are  man-stealers  ;  and  their 
theological  seminaries,  such  as  Andover,  Princeton, 
and  Middletown,  teach  the  doctrine  that  man-stealing 
if  accompanied  by  mild  treatment,  is  not  sinful. 

As  our  remarks  on  Sunday  evening  were  confined 
to  the  church  and  ministry,  I  was  not  a  little  surprised 
on  entering  the  meeting  on  the  following  evening,  to 
find  there  a  large  number  of  men  and  boys  u  of  the 
basest  sort,"  some  drunk,  some  sober,  apparently  much 
exasperated  at  our  doctrines,  and  determined,  if  pos 
sible,  to  put  a  stop  to  their  spread.  They  could  not 
endure  to  hear  their  ministers  and  churches  so  tra 
duced,  and  had  come  to  their  defence.  The  leader  of 
this  gallant  band,  a  Mr.  Hilton,  whose  intoxication  was 
only  zeal  for  the  honor  of  the  church,  rather  than  of 
new  rum,  was  in  shirt  sleeves,  as  the  insignia  of  his 
office.  Several  others  had  appropriate  emblems.  The 
room  was  filled  with  a  dense,  fetid  smoke,  which  was 
exceedingly  annoying,  and  rendered  respiration  in 
some  parts  of  it  difficult.  On  examination,  it  was 
found  that  these  fumes  proceeded  from  breathing 
holes  of  perdition  in  a  remote  part  of  the  room,  which 
Satan  had  contrived  to  open  for  our  special  annoyance, 
through  the  lips  of  some  half  a  dozen  of  your  young 
parishoners,  by  means  of  some  ignited  tobacco  leaves, 
which  he  had  caused  to  be  rolled  into  the  shape  of  a 
pig's  tail,  and  put  into  their  delicate  little  mouths. 
Brother  Pillsbury  commenced  speaking,  but  was  soon 
interrupted  by  the  talking  and  racket  of  these  young 
gentlemen  of  the  cigar.  Finding  it  difficult  to  proceed, 
he  remonstrated  against  such  rude  behavior,  and 
expressed  his  regret  that  youth  of  so  much  promise 
should,  in  an  unguarded  hour,  suffer  themselves  to  be 
made  a  cat's  paw  by  their  parents  and  other  superiors 
in  age,  to  tear  in  pieces  the  sacred  charter  of  the  lib 
erties  for  which  their  ancestors  bled  ;  and  which  it 
should  be  their  highest  honor  to  inherit  and  transmit, 
unimpaired  to  posterity. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  2OI 

This  appeal  was  not  without  effect  upon  most  of 
those  for  whose  particular  benefit  it  was  intended. 
But  the  speaker  had  not  proceeded  far  when  he  was 
again  interrupted  by  an  outburst  of  holy  indignation 
at  his  infidelity  and  irreverence  for  man-stealers  and 
their  abettors  from  an  opposite  quarter  of  the  house. 
This  proved  a  more  serious  affair.  Captain  Hilton, 
accompanied  by  his  tipsy  corporal,  one  Kimball,  made 
a  pass  at  the  speaker.  Their  feelings,  it  appeared, 
had  been  deeply  wounded  by  some  of  the  speaker's 
remarks,  and  nothing  would  appease  them  short  of  a 
total  retraction  of  the  obnoxious  sentiments.  They 
were  no  non-resistants.  They  had  embraced  the 
Christianity  of  the  Concord  church.  They  wanted 
satisfaction  and  they  knew  how  to  obtain  it.  Brother 
Pillsbury  coolly  replied  to  their  demands  that  he  had 
spoken  the  truth  and  should  make  no  apology  for  it. 
"Damn  you,"  said  the  captain,  "you  have  slandered 
and  abused  all  our  ministers  and  churches,  and  every 
thing  that's  good  among  us."  "Damn  you,"  cried 
another,  "you  shall  take  all  that  back  ;  "  and  imme 
diately  seized  him  by  the  collar.  The  room  at  this 
time  exhibited  a  scene  of  dreadful  confusion  and 
alarm.  Observing  that  the  women  were  preparing  to 
leave  the  house,  I  left  brother  Pillsbury  in  the  hands 
of  his  assailants  and  to  the  protection  of  his  heavenly 
Father,  and  passed  to  the  other  side  of  the  room  for 
the  purpose  of  allaying  their  fears  and  encouraging 
them  to  remain. 

As  the  crowd  had  by  this  time  become  so  dense 
around  brother  Pillsbury  that  I  could  not  approach 
him,  I  stepped  upon  the  railing  and  with  much 
strength  of  lungs,  succeeded  in  raising  my  voice 
above  the  uproar  that  filled  the  house.  My  expostu 
lations  with  the  mob  on  the  meanness  of  disturbing  a 
free  meeting,  where  all  enjoyed  equal  privilege  of 
being  heard,  succeeded  in  restoring  quiet,  when  it 
was  found  that  brother  Pillsbury,  with  an  unresisting 
demeanor,  had  protected  himself  from  personal  in 
jury,  although  for  a  time  entirely  in  the  power  of 
infuriated  drunkards !  Order  being  restored,  he 
resumed  his  remarks. 


202  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

But  the  mob  were  not  yet  satisfied.  They  had  not 
fully  vindicated  their  character  nor  that  of  the  church 
and  ministry  from  the  slanderous  accusations  of  the 
anti- slavery  agents.  After  the  lapse  of  about  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour,  most  of  the  rioters  retired  from 
the  hall.  Joined,  as  we  supposed,  by  a  new  recruit 
from  the  bar-room,  they  soon  came  back  and  com 
menced  a  hideous  noise  in  the  entry,  which  entirely 
overpowered  the  speaker's  voice,  and  gave  signs  of 
another  brutal  assault.  Several  persons,  not  abolition 
ists,  attempted  to  hush  the  noise,  but  to  little  purpose. 
One  of  them  called  upon  the  constable  to  take  the 
leaders  into  custody,  but  he  declined  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  no  precept.  I  took  occasion  to  remind 
this  scrupulously  conscientious  political  "minister  of 
God  "  that  when  I  entered  your  meeting-house  for  the 
purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel  in  an  orderly  man 
ner,  it  was  not  thought  necessary  to  obtain  a  precept 
in  order  to  dispose  of  me  ;  but  that  any  member  of  the 
congregation  who  chose,  the  minister  himself  not  ex- 
cepted,  turned  constable  and  thrust  me  from  the  house. 

Finding  it  impossible  to  proceed  with  our  exercises, 
brother  Pillsbury  and  myself  felt  it  our  duty  to  shake 
off  the  dust  of  our  feet  and  leave  the  place.  This 
we  did  by  a  short,  though  solemn  testimony,  against 
all  those  through  whose  agency  the  meeting  had  been 
broken  up.  While  recording  that  testimony,  a  death 
like  silence  pervaded  the  room.  Even  the  infuriated 
ranks  of  the  besotted  rioters  that  were  momentarily 
threatening  to  break  forth  upon  us,  were  overpowered 
by  its  fearful  import,  and  they  silently  retired  in  dis 
may  at  the  terrors  of  the  coming  judgment,  leaving 
us  to  return  in  safety  and  unmolested  to  our  lodgings. 

Such  are  the  prominent  facts  connected  with  this 
disgraceful  outrage.  It  only  remains  for  me  to  sub 
mit  the  question  whether,  in  view  of  them,  I  am  not 
fully  justified  in  the  opinion  that  you  were  the  guilty 
author.  What  possible  interest  had  Mr.  Hilton  and 
his  associates  in  the  breaking  up  of  our  meeting? 
The  anti  slavery  enterprise  does  not  and  cannot  mo 
lest  them.  They  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  prev 
alence  of  free  principles.  The  mob  was  on  your  be- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  203 

half.  Its  avowed  object  was  to  defend  your  charac 
ter,  and  that  of  the  church  and  ministry  generally, 
against  what  it  professed  to  regard  as  the  slanderous 
accusations  of  the  abolitionists. 

How  is  it,  sir,  that  the  bar-room  has  disgorged  it 
self  to  furnish  a  body-guard  for  the  pulpit  ?  Why 
are  the  most  vicious  of  your  citizens  so  jealous  of  your 
reputation  ?  Can  we  suppose  that  they  acted  contrary 
to  your  wishes  in  this  matter  ?  Men  may  oppose,  but 
will  rarely  defend  us  by  means  which  we  do  not  sanc 
tion  and  approve. 

You  declared  you  "would  sooner  co-operate  with 
fiends  from  perdition  than  with  Rogers  and  his  coad 
jutors  !" 

Is  not  this  mob  alarming  proof  that  you  are  co 
operating  with  fiends  from  perdition  in  the  perpetuity 
of  slavery,  and  not  with  Rogers  and  his  coadjutors  in 
its  overthrow?  Respectfully  yours, 

STEPHEN  S.  FOSTER. 

Andover,  Afass.,  Nov.  7,  1841. 


CHAPTER     X. 

DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE  —  RIOTOUS  BEHAVIOR  OF  THE 
STUDENTS-STRAFFORD  COUNTY  ANNIVERSARY— EAST 
ERN  RAILROAD  AND  ITS  JIM  CROW  CARS  — OUT 
RAGES  ON  COLORED  PASSENGERS. 

Franklin  was  but  a  specimen  of  New  Hampshire, 
and  Mr.  Knight  was  in  immense  majority,  and  Dart 
mouth  college  was  helping  to  keep  the  number  of  his 
kind  good,  if  not  increase  it.  At  Franklin,  the  rioters 
were  mostly  boys,  set  on  or  led"  on  by  some  old  enough 
to  be  their  fathers  and  grandfathers,  drunk  on  rum  or 
rage,  spleen  and  spite,  but  doing  the  will  and  pleasure 
of  church  and  minister.  Their  ribaldry  was  as  offen 
sive  as  their  blasphemy.  What  we  most  feared,  had 
most  reason  to  fear,  was  that  some  indiscreet  friend 
of  ours  might  be  impelled  to  resist  their  outrages  of 
word  and  deed  by  force.  True,  the  provocation  was 
very  great.  But  had  such  resistance  been  made,  even 
to  a  single  blow,  however  slight,  it  would  have  filled 
the  hordes  surrounding  us  with  fiendish  delight,  and 
bloody  scenes  must  inevitably  have  followed.  Since 
the  war  of  the  rebellion,  almost  every  ruffian  appears 
to  be  armed  with  dirk,  pistol,  or  both,  ready  for  use  at 
any  moment.  It  was  not  so  then  and  there,  but  I  long 
kept  in  my  cabinet  stones  and  other  missiles,  includ 
ing  heavy  bullets,  which  had  been  hurled  at  me  and 
my  brave  companion,  through  windows,  or  as  we 
walked  or  rode  along  the  streets  to  or  from  our  meet 
ings.  We  read  in  New  Testament  times  of  a  Stephen 
stoned  to  death  by  a  mob.  I  traveled  and  worked 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  205 

with  another  Stephen  who  would  have  cheerfully 
suffered  similar  fate.  And  who  shall  say  it  would  not 
have  been  in  an  equally  holy  cause?  And  in  deep 
humility  and  sincerity  I  can  say  we  together  passed 
through  many  scenes  where  it  would  have  been  our 
joy,  and  true  honor,  too,  to  fall  as  did  the  ancient 
Stephen,  could  our  cause  have  been  best  subserved 
thereby.  But  it  was  only  in  extreme  peril  that  my 
constitutional  cowardice  was  so  far  overcome.  Mob 
violence  was  ever  my  aversion  and  dread,  till  deep  in 
the  midst  of  it.  Brave  old  military  heroes  have  often 
told  me  that  they  trembled  at  the  outset,  and  till  after 
the  first  few  shots  had  been  exchanged.  Then  there 
was  no  more  fear.  I  could  well  understand  them. 
But  not  so  my  friend  Foster.  He  seemed  ever  cool 
and  serene,  before  and  through  the  fiercest  encoun 
ters.  Nor  did  any  one  ever  see  him  exultant,  in  his 
most  brilliant  successes.  But  to  return  to  our 
narrative. 

The  next  experiences  and  their  results  to  be  de 
scribed  occurred,  soon  after  at  Dartmouth  college, 
which  introduced  me  to  society  and  scenes  unknown 
before. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  me,  sometimes 
in  letters  from  distant  states,  at  what  college  I  re 
ceived  my  education.  It  always  sounded  strangely  in 
my  ears,  when  remembering  that  at  seven  and  twenty 
there  was  not  a  harder  worked,  nor  working  man, 
young  nor  old,  in  my  native  state  of  Massachusetts,  nor 
my  involuntarily  adopted  state  of  New  Hampshire,  at 
four  years  old.  At  twenty-four,  I  joined  the  Congre 
gational  church,  in  Henniker.  To  me,  it  was  the 
most  sacred,  solemn  step  of  my  whole  life.  There 
had  been  none  of  those  dark,  despairing  convictions, 
so  frequently  felt  and  described,  and  still  less  had 


206       ACTS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  APOSTLES. 

there  been  any  of  the  raptures,  the  "joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  glory,"  that  so  many  experienced,  and 
even  loudly  boasted.  I  waited  for  such,  long,  earn 
estly,  expectantly,  and  confidently.  A  doubt  that 
such  were  necessary  had  not  entered  my  mind,  though 
many  around  me  gave  sad  evidence  in  their  lives  and 
conversation  after  their  experience,  that  even  the  most 
intense  anguish  of 'conviction  and  exttaic  joy  in  the 
hour  of  conversion,  were  no  assurance  of  regenera 
tion  or  change  of  heart.  The  reasonableness,  wisdom 
and  righteousness  of  the  divine  requirements  were 
made  so  plain  to  my  understanding,  and  the  observ 
ance  of  them,  according  to  my  enlightenment,  so 
necessary  to  the  highest  happiness  and  welfare  of  the 
human  race,  that  in  the  very  love  of  them,  I  accepted 
them,  irrespective  of  all  questions  of  perdition  as 
penalty  or  paradise  as  reward.  Educated  almost 
from  infancy  in  the  Congregational  Sunday-school, 
and  corresponding  religious  teaching  with  scrupulous 
care  and  faithfulness  at  home,  it  was  easy  to  assume 
as  true  all  the  doctrines  of  our  denomination,  trinity 
atonement,  total  depravity  and  election,  as  well  as 
everlasting  rewards  and  retributions.  If  away  beyond 
my  comprehension,  I  remembered  how  many  great 
and  holy  men  had  embraced  and  defended  them  ;  how 
many  godly  men  and  women  had  died  martyrs  for 
them  on  torturing  racks  and  in  burning  flames;  and 
who  in  my  situation  could  doubt  their  truth  without 
violence  to  every  pulsation  of  soul  and  spirit? 

And  so  I  entered  the  church  tremblingly,  but  re 
solved  to  the  best  of  all  I  was,  or  could  become,  to 
adorn  my  profession.  And  whatever  duties  were 
taught  me  as  a  Christian  professor,  I  endeavored  to 
perform.  Temperance  and  anti-slavery  were  among 
my  first  espousals  ;  the  former  with  the  approval  of 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  207 

and  encouragement  of  our  pastor,  but  the  latter  rather 
in  spite  of  him.  Our  first  anti-slavery  lecture  was 
delivered  in  the  Methodist  meeting-house,  by  Moses 
A.  Cartland,  then  a  most  excellent  Quaker  school 
teacher  and  principal,  if  not  founder,  of  the  once  well- 
known  Clinton  Grove  school,  in  the  adjoining  town  of 
Weare.  It  was  in  the  spring  of  1835,  while  I  was  yet 
with  my  father  and  family  on  the  farm.  The  lecture 
was  a  calm,  serene,  but  truthful  and  faithful  presen 
tation  of  the  wrongs  of  the  slave,  the  crimes  and 
cruelties,  the  outrages  and  abominations  inseparable 
from  the  slave  system  ;  but  all  delivered  with  the 
gentleness  and  spirit  of  Lydia  Maria  Child,  from 
whose  writings  he  frequently  and  liberally  quoted, 
and  several  older  members  of  the  church  than  myself 
were  deeply  impressed  by  the  important  truths  we 
heard.  Not  so,  however,  the  minister  and  most  of  the 
leading  church  members  and  officers.  A  general  town 
meeting  was  called  at  the  town  house,  and  speeches 
were  made  and  resolutions  adopted  denouncing  and 
condemning  the  anti-slavery  agitation  and  all  who 
abetted  or  encouraged  it.  And  similar  meetings 
were  held  in  many  towns  all  over  the  state,  and 
their  proceedings  were  published  in  the  newspapers. 
At  this  time,  and  for  three  or  four  years  after 
ward,  the  agitation  had  not  jarred  the  founda 
tions  of  church  or  pulpit  to  such  a  degree  as  to  pro 
duce  the  winnowings,  the  separations  and  rendings 
that  were  to  ensue  in  1839  and  1840,  when  in  very 
deed  judgment  had  to  begin,  and  did  "begin  at  the 
house  of  God!"  Till  then,  there  were  many  in  the 
churches,  ministers  as  well  as  others,  who  hated 
slavery  and  were  willing  it  should  be  abolished  if  the 
peace  and  sleep  of  their  organizations  be  not  thereby 
disturbed.  But  so  it  could  not  be.  In  our  church  at 


208  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Henniker,  temperance  was  held  and  preached  as  a 
cardinal  Christian  virtue.  The  church  covenant  re 
quired  of  every  member  "  total  abstinence  from  ar 
dent  spirits  as  a  drink,"  as  early  as  1835,  if  not  before. 
Had  the  ministers  espoused  and  proclaimed  the  doc 
trines  and  duties  of  anti-slavery  as  earnestly,  most  of 
the  church  would  as  cordially  have  embraced  them. 
My  anti-slavery  gave  some  offence,  especially  when 
once  a  slaveholder  came  and  preached  in  our  pulpit, 
and  I  absented  myself  from  meeting  solely  in  conse 
quence.  But  only  few  held  with  me,  and  none  had 
gone  so  far  as  to  refuse  sermon  and  sacrament  from  a 
slaveholder,  though  several  men  and  women  approved 
my  course  in  such  refusal. 

It  was  to  the  question  however,  at  what  college  my 
education  was  obtained,  that  I  proposed  to  answer  a 
fe.jv  words,  and  directly  in  continuation  of  the  matter 
in  hand.  In  prosecuting  our  mission,  Mr.  Foster  and 
myself  found  ourselves  at  Hanover,  and  the  gates  of 
Dartmouth  college,  from  whence  Foster  had  graduated 
only  three  years  before,  and  with  more  than  ordinary 
college  honors.  I  had  never  before  seen  the  interior 
of  that,  nor  of  any  other  college,  in  my  life  ;  and  to 
academies  and  high-schools  I  was  scarcely  less  a 
stranger. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Grafton  county  society 
had  been  already  held,  but  in  the  south  part  of  the 
county,  a  full  clay's  drive  from  Hanover,  and  a  similar 
convening  seemed  desirable  in  the  northern  section, 
and  Hanover  was  the  selected  place.  It  was  a  full 
week,  however,  before  any  house  could  be  found  in 
which  to  assemble,  and  the  committee  were  at  length, 
after  that  delay,  compelled  to  call  our  meeting  at  the 
dancing  hall  of  the  principal  hotel.  Neither  church 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES.  209 

nor  college  would  open  to  us  a  door,  nor  condescend 
to  give  us  any  reason  why  we  were  so  summarily 
denied. 

At  the  time  appointed,  however,  the  convention 
assembled  in  encouraging  numbers,  was  duly  organ 
ized,  opened  with  prayer,  and  we  proceeded  to  busi 
ness.  Henry  C.  Wright,  of  Philadelphia,  formerly  a 
Congregational  minister,  Mr.  Foster,  and  myself 
were  present  as  principal  speakers,  though  all  persons 
present  were  cordially  invited,  as  was  our  invariable 
custom,  to  participate  in  the  discussions.  The  first 
resolution  presented  was  to  the  effect  that  in  any 
moral  conflict,  strength  and  success  depended,  not  so- 
much  upon  numbers,  as  on  inflexible  adherence  to 
principle.  An  interesting  debate  ensued,  which  occu 
pied  the  remainder  of  the  morning  session,  when  the 
resolution  passed  unanimously,  and  we  adjourned 
till  afternoon. 

At  two  o'clock  we  again  assembled,  when  after 
prayer  the  following  resolution  was  offered  : 

Resolved,  That  every  person  in  the  nation,  north  or 
south,  who  is  not  an  open  abolitionist,  is  by  his  influ 
ence,  sustaining  and  perpetuating  slavery,  and  should 
be  regarded  by  every  friend  of  humanity  as  a  virtual 
slave-holder. 

This  resolution  was  the  order  for  afternoon.  A 
clerical  agent  of  the  new  organization  came  also  among 
us.  He  moved  an  amendment  diluting  the  resolution 
to  his  taste  and  temper.  And  as  church,  college  and 
village  made  a  large  part  of  the  audience  after  closing 
all  their  doors  against  us,  the  original  resolution  was 
rejected,  by  small  majority.  In  the  evening,  our 
resolution  read  as  below  : 

Resolved,  That  American  slavery  is  a  complication 
of  the  foulest  crimes  ;  robbery,  adultery,  man-stealing, 
and  murder ;  and  should  therefore  be  immediately 
and  unconditionally  abolished. 


210  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

The  college  students  crowded  themselves  together 
and  were  very  disorderly,  both  before  and  after  the 
exercises  began,  clapping,  hissing,  and  hooting,  in 
most  indecent  and  vulgar  manner.  Mr.  Foster  opened 
the  discussion  in  an  address  of  wondrous  eloquence 
and  power  of  argument,  showing  how  slavery  was  all 
the  resolution  charged  and  a  great  deal  more,  and 
that  logically,  morally,  every  way,  the  slave-holder 
must  be  robber,  adulterer,  man-stealer  and  murderer. 
Then  he  illustrated  what  these  crimes  meant  in  slavery; 
how  a  man-stealer  must  be  as  much  greater  than  a 
horse  or  sheep-stealer,  as  a  man  is  better  and  greater 
than  sheep  or  horse.  Then  he  asked  :  "  How  much 
greater  is  a  man  than  a  sheep  ?  "  "  Who  in  Dartmouth 
college  can  solve  that  problem  ?  Who  ? "  And  yet,  he 
declared,  "  those  monsters  are  hourly  stealing  the  very 
Christ  who  died  for  them,  in  the  person  of  his  little 
ones.  For  inasmuch  as  they  do  it  to  the  poorest, 
blackest  of  his  children,  they  do  it  unto  God  !  And 
to  Christ  his  Son.  All  this,  not  to  speak  of  the  other 
capital  crimes  mentioned  in  the  resolution.  And  who 
perpetrates  these  outrages  ?  They  are  ministers, 
bishops,  elders,  doctors  of  divinity,  deacons,  and 
church  members,  presidents  and  professors  of  colleges 
and  theological  seminaries."  And  he  declared,  "those 
at  the  north  who  fellowshiped  such  as  Christians  and 
Christian  ministers,  are  bad  as  they.  They  voluntarily 
make  themselves  man-stealers  and  robbers,  adulterers 
and  murderers,  in  position,  all  of  them  ;  and  many  of 
them  in  heart.  We  do  not  see  them  do  the  deeds, 
and  so  we  hold  them  innocent.  But  what  would  you 
say  if  President  Lord,  of  your  own  college,  should  be 
seen  carrying  home  at  night,  a  stolen  sheep  ?  or  buy 
ing  one  he  knew  had  just  been  stolen  ? " 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  211 

From  that  time,  the  order  and  quiet  of  the  conven 
tion  were  no  more.  But  the  disturbance  did  not 
begin  then,  it  was  only  mightily  increased.  It  com 
menced  before  the  opening  prayer,  and  did  not  wholly 
cease  during  the  evening.  There  were  those,  not  all 
boys,  who,  during  some  of  Mr.  Foster's  most  thrilling 
appeals,  and  blood  curdling  descriptions,  would  keep 
up  their  scraping,  whistling,  and  snickering,  as  though 
they  were  in  some  cheap  circus  or  minstrel  show. 
Possibly  on  some  battle-field  in  the  Rebellion,  they 
learned  their  mistake. 

For  a  time  we  were  completely  silenced  by  the 
uproar.  The  editor  of  the  Hanover  Amulet,  who  hap 
pened  to  enter  at  that  moment,  said  in  his  next  paper: 
"  Judge  of  our  surprise  when  we  entered  the  hall  where 
we  supposed  every  heart  beat  in  unison  with  sympathy 
for  the  oppressed,  to  find  general  tumult  and  confu 
sion,"  which  tumult  continued  through  the  evening 
with  greater  or  less  atrocity  to  the  very  last  ;  and  the 
clerical  new  organization  agent  added  greatly,  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  greatly,  the  outrage. 

But  no  explanation  which  Mr.  Foster  could  make 
availed  anything.  For  a  long  time,  he  had  no  hearing 
at  all.  When  he  obtained  the  ear  for  a  few  moments, 
he  abjured  utterly,  any  disrespect  to  President  Lord 
or  to  the  college.  He  only  wished  to  impress  on  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  his  h.earers,  the  awful  wickedness 
of  slavery,  and  not  less  of  the  north,  especially  the 
northern  church  and  clergy,  in  fellowshiping  as 
Christians,  these  monsters  of  iniquity — that  for  Dr. 
Lord  he  had  only  profound  respect  ;  and  with  good 
reason,  he  said,  for  he  had  ever  been  as  a  father  to 
him,  both  while  he  was  at  college  and  since  he  gradu 
ated  ;  and  that  sooner  should  his  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  his  mouth  than  be  guilty  of  uttering  one  word 


212  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

to  his  injury  ;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  He  was  con 
stantly  hissed  and  insulted  till  he  closed  his  remarks^ 
and  afterwards,  if  he  attempted  to  speak,  until  we 
closed  the  meeting. 

Henry  C.  Wright  was  not  much  better  received,, 
though  in  most  pathetic  word  and  tone,  he  depicted 
the  condition  of  the  enslaved,  completely,  hopelessly, 
and  to  their  last  breath,  in  the  power  of  those  who  had 
been  proved  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt,  robbers, 
and  adulterers,  man-stealers  and  murderers  ;  cruel, 
remorseless,  relentless  as  death.  Mr.  Wright  was. 
heard,  with  more  or  less  interruption,  nearly  half 
an  hour. 

The  next  speaker  was  the  new  organization  minis 
ter.  He  was  from  some  place  in  Massachusetts.  In 
rather  a  sneering,  contemptuous  manner  he  asked, 
not  the  mob,  but  us  who  had  called  the  meeting,  if  he 
might  speak.  He  had  surely  heard  the  resolution 
offered,  and  seen  it  adopted  unanimously,  that  "  all 
persons  present  be  invited  to  participate  in  the  delib 
erations  of  the  convention."  In  his  conventions  and 
meetings,  no  such  resolution  was  ever  offered,  speak 
ing  and  voting  being  always  insolently  denied  to 
women,  even  such  women  as  Abby  Kelly,  the  Grimke 
sisters,  and  Lucretia  Mott.  He,  of  course,  as  in  the 
afternoon,  strenuously  opposed  our  resolution,  and 
presented  a  stupidly  modified  and  diluted  substitute. 
The  solemn  and  pathetic  address  of  Mr.  Wright  had 
produced  a  deep  and  desirable  impression  on  many 
minds,  and  the  object  of  the  substituted  resolution 
and  its  mover  was  to  efface  it.  His  low,  vulgar  wit, 
the  farthest  possible  remove  from  the  searching  de 
scription  and  appeal  of  Mr.  WTright,  was  loudly 
cheered  and  applauded  by  the  uproarious  crew  for 
whose  benefit  it  was  uttered.  Very  sapiently,  he  quo- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  213 

ted  the  law  of  his  state  of  Massachusetts  as  to  what 
•constituted  murder.    He  was  applauded  and  approved. 
Mr.  Foster  responded  from  his  seat  with  the  scripture 
law,  "  He  that  hateth  his  brother  is  a  murderer,"  and 
was  loudly  hissed.     As  the  best  our  opponent  could 
do  with  the  scripture  allusion  as  a  higher  law,  he  be 
gan  a  taunting  strain  of  remark  about  our  being,  not 
an  anti-slavery  society,  but  a  non-resistance,  no-gov 
ernment  association  ;  and  gave  as  his  proof  that  we 
quoted  scripture  instead  of  ordinary,  legal  definitions. 
This  false  and  foolish  charge,  two  or  three  times  re- 
peate'd  and  boisterously  applauded,  was  all  the  irrele 
vant  matter  thrust  upon   us   in   a  business  way.     No 
.notice  was  taken  of  this,  except  by  Mr.  Wright,  who 
very  coolly  remarked  that  an  anti-slavery  convention 
was  not  the  place  to  discuss  non-resistance.     Our  op 
ponent  admitted  that  the  resolution  was  strictly  true 
in  every  charge  but  that  of  murder.    In  our  argument 
we  had  not  alluded  to  scripture  at  all  on  any  of  the 
•counts  in  the  resolution.     We  had  judged  slavery  by 
ordinary  statute  and  the   natural  rights   of  common 
humanity.     At    this    point,   we    asked    our    opponent 
whether  to  shoot  down,  or  tear  in  pieces  with  trained 
blood-hounds,  a  poor  slave  who,  under  cover  of  night, 
was  quietly,  peacefully  fleeing  to  Canada  for  freedom, 
was  not  murder  ?    "  No,"  he  said,  "  not  legal  murder," 
and  this  answer  elicited  applause  loud  and  long,  mak 
ing  the  floor  to  tremble  under   our   feet.     From  this 
time,  if  not  indeed  long  before,  all   sense   of  honor, 
propriety,   decency,   was    disregarded.       The    women 
present  had  before  retired  in  disgust,  and   it  seemed 
probable    that    we    who    had    called    the    convention 
would  no  longer  be  suffered.     But  Foster  determined 
to  make  one  more  effort  at  a  hearing.     Seizing  on  a 
moment   of  comparative  silence,  in   a  loud  voice  he 


214  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

proceeded  to  say  that  he  had  a  few  days  before  visited' 
Hanover,  to  secure  a  place  for  this  convention,  but 
was  unable  to  procure  any  place  whatever  that  was 
controlled  by  the  college  ;  that  he  then  applied  for 
this  tavern  hall,  and,  after  some  delay  and  delibera 
tion,  he  secured  it,  at  the  not  unreasonable  price  of 
three  dollars  a  day  ;  that  it  had  been  our  intention  to 
continue  the  convention  two  days  and  evenings,  but 
such  had  been  the  confusion  and  uproar  of  this  even 
ing,  and  such  the  manifest  intention,  if  possible,  to 
hinder  the  orderly  and  quiet  prosecution  of  our  busi 
ness,  the  meetings  will  be  closed  to-night ;  and  the 
responsibility  of  disturbing  and  breaking  up  an  open, 
free-discussion,  anti-slavery  convention,  may  rest  on  those 
to  whom  it  justly  belongs. 

These  remarks,  in  good,  strong,  earnest  tone  and 
spirit,  made  a  deep  impression.  Many  had  not  before 
comprehended  the  position  in  which  they  had  placed 
themselves  and  their  college.  One  young  man,  after 
wards  a  professor  in  a  theological  seminary,  rose  and 
attempted  what  proved  a  most  lame  and  impotent  de 
fence  of  the  rioters.  He  said  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  students  to  express  their  approval  or  disapproval 
of  whatever  passed  before  them  in  this  way  ;  that  an 
attack  had  been  made  on  Dr.  Lord,  an  honored  and 
respected  officer  of  the  institution,  and  it  was  not 
strange  that  those  who  honored  and  venerated  him 
should  thus  manifest  their  disapprobation.  And  be 
sides,  the  students  themselves  had  been  reproached, 
and  took  this  method  to  express  their  displeasure  at 
that  also.  One  or  two  others  also  spoke  to  about  the 
same  import  ;  one  adding  to  other  charges,  that  our 
''speeches  were  wild  and  windy,"  and  another,  that 
they  "were  long  and  tedious." 


^ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  215 

Glad  at  seeing  any  change  for  the  better  in  the 
temper  or  methods  of  our  opponents,  I  ventured,  for 
the  first  time  during  the  evening,  to  occupy  a  few 
minutes,  and  began  by  assuring  the  meeting  that  it  was 
not  strange,  since  the  president  and  college  professors 
had  driven  the  poor  slave  to  the  tavern  hall  as  the 
only  place  where,  with  their  approval,  his  friends 
could  assemble  to  plead  his  cause,  the  students,  imi 
tating  their  spirit,  should  come  here  also  to  drive 
us  from  this,  the  slave's  last  refuge.  I  reminded 
them  that  this,  like  all  our  meetings,  was  open 
to  free  and  friendly  discussion  ;  unlike  most  assem 
blies,  as  free  to  our  opponents  as  our  friends. 
We  learned  afterwards  that  the  committee  of  the 
Congregational  meeting-house,  which  was  also  refused 
us,  was  composed  in  part  of  the  college  faculty,  the 
very  chairman  of  the  board  being  one.  I  said  further, 
what  surely  was  always  true  at  that  time,  that  we  found 
the  most  violent  opposition  to  the  anti-slavery  cause 
among  the  so-called  "educated  ministry,"  and  that 
from  this  time  we  could  not  be  surprised  at  it,  for  here 
at  college,  they  see  the  doors  of  meeting-houses,  ves 
tries,  lecture  rooms,  shut  against  us,  and  commence 
their  hostilities  by  driving  us  even  from  tavern  halls, 
Here  to-night,  I  said,  we  see  what  the  candidates  for 
the  ministry  can  do  through  hatred  to  our  movements, 
and  in  imitation  of  the  spirit  of  those  under  whose 
tuition  you  have  placed  yourselves  ;  and  everywhere 
we  are  seeing  and  feeling  what  you  may  do  when  you 
come  to  be  ministers.  I  said  that  my  own  life  had 
been  anything  rather  than  a  student's  life  ;  that, 
though  I  had  traveled  and  lectured  extensively 
throughout  New  York  and  New  England,  singularly 
enough,  I  had  never,  till  to-day,  seen  even  the  outside 
of  a  college  (we  thought  of  that,  exclaimed  one  in 


2l6  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

the  crowd)  ;  and  I  hoped  as  to  moral  character,  that 
what  we  saw  here,  was  not  a  fair  specimen  of  our 
higher  institutions  of  learning  ;  though  I  felt  com 
pelled  to  say,  that,  judging  from  the  spirit  and  posi 
tion  of  the  clergy  and  most  of  our  educated  men  on 
the  great  questions  of  moral  reform,  I  feared  most  of 
our  large  seminaries  of  learning  had  not  been  much 
misrepresented  by  the  students  of  Dartmouth  college, 
here  to-night.  It  did  not  surprise  me  that  by  this 
time  the  tumult  was  renewed  by  some  of  the  younger 
portion  of  the  disturbers,  nor  did  I  greatly  regret  it, 
for  I  felt  that  my  rebuke  was  as  necessary  as  it  was 
richly  deserved  ;  and  that  kind  of  hostile  demonstra 
tion  only  clinched  tighter  the  argument.  Many 
endeavored  to  hush  the  confusion  and  some  cried 
loudly,  "  Hear  him,  hear  him."  But  I  had  closed  my 
remarks,  and  kept  my  feet  till  it  was  possible  to  be 
again  heard,  and  then  moved  that  the  convention  be 
now  finally  adjourned;  which  was  immediately  put,  and 
carried  unanimously.  And  with  that  closed  my  first 
and  last  connection  with  any  college.  And  now  the 
question  is  answered  ;  at  what  college  I  obtained  my 
ediication  ?  The  answer ;  my  collegiate  education,  at 
Dartmouth  ;  and  all  in  one  day.  There  needed  no 
more.  One  or  two  later,  fiercer,  college  mobs  added 
nothing  new,  nor  important  to  my  stock  of  knowledge 
in  that  department. 

Still,  why  blame  the  students  ?  They  had  good  rea 
son  to  suppose  they  were  serving  the  college,  and 
doing  the  will  of  its  officers.  It  was  no  worse  for 
them  to  mob  us  out  of  the  hotel  hall,  than  it  was  for 
their  masters  and  the  church  authorities  to  send  us 
there,  by  shutting  us  out  of  every  other  place.  Our 
cause  was  then  passing  through  its  most  fiery  ordeal. 
The  time  having  come  "that  judgment  must  begin 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  2iy 

at  the  house  of  Gcd,"  church  and  pulpit,  college, 
university  and  theological  seminary  seemed  to  have 
made  treaty,  offensive  and  defensive,  against  it.  Most 
of  those  institutions,  as  well  as  the  academies  and  les 
ser  seats  of  learning,  were  then,  as  always,  largely 
under  clerical  control.  The  writings  of  President 
Lord,  of  Dartmouth  college,  on  slavery  and  the  abo 
litionists,  were  fearful.  Some  of  them  lie  before  me. 
In  the  light  of  the  "Golden  Rule,"  of  Confucius,  and 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  centuries  after,  they  are 
infamous.  Amid  the  blazing  terrors  of  Fort  Wagner 
and  Port  Hudson,  the  torments  of  Andersonville  and 
Libby  prisons,  they  are  truly  diabolical.  Shall  we 
blame  the  pupils  of  such  a  president  for  a  few  hours 
of  rude,  indecent  and  vulgar  behavior,  and  riotously 
breaking  up  of  a  county  convention  with  welcome 
entrance  to  what  might  have  been  a  free,  friendly 
anti-slavery  discussion  ?  Verily,  no  ! 

Andover  Latin  Academy  and  Lane  Theological 
Seminary  had  driven  away  large  numbers  of  their 
bravest,  most  conscientious  and  high-minded  students 
by  downright  pro-slavery  intolerance.  Canaan,  New 
Hampshire,  Academy,  had  been  broken  up  for  the 
unpardonable  sin  of  admitting  a  few  colored  pupils  on 
equal  terms  with  the  white,  by  vote  of  the  people  in 
legal  town  meeting  assembled.  A  committee  was  ap 
pointed  for  the  business,  and,  as  officially  reported  in 
the  N.  H.  Patriot,  the  edifice  was  lifted  from  its 
foundations,  and  by  three  hundred  men  and  a  hun 
dred  yoke  of  oxen  was  hauled  out  of  town.  The 
most  respectable  and  wealthy  farmers  in  the  place 
assisted  in  service  like  that  at  the  bidding  of  the 
slave-power,  which  then  ruled  supreme.  Well  does 
Senator  Wilson,  in  his  History,  ask  in  his  account  of 
it,  "  Could  the  fanaticism  of  slavery  go  farther  than 


2l8  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

that?  how  demoralized  the  community  which  could, 
furnish  the  actors  in  such  a  drama,  and  applaud  it 
when  enacted  !  " 

But  "the  fanaticism  of  slavery"  could  and  did  go 
a  great  deal  farther  than  that,  as  Senator  Wilson  and 
his  country  learned  to  their  cost,  in  the  coming  years.. 

Miss  Prudence  Crandall,  a  benevolent  and  philan 
thropic  woman  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  had  her 
school  in  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  utterly  broken  up 
and  routed  for  the  same  offence  as  that  of  the  Noyes 
academy  at  Canaan.  Her's  was  a  school  for  girls, 
and  the  outrages  attending  the  transaction  were  some 
of  them  too  shameful  to  be  told.  Town  meetings 
were  held,  resolutions  offered  and  discussed  in  words 
harder  than  bullets ;  Mrs.  Crandall  was  arrested, 
thrust  into  prison,  dragged  to  trial,  and,  though  ac 
quitted  by  the  court,  was  re-arrested,  tried  over  again, 
and  this  time  convicted.  Her  counsel  filed  a  bill  of 
exceptions,  and  appealed  the  case.  By  the  highest 
tribunal  in  the  state  the  verdict  was  overruled.  Then 
a  ruffian  erowd  assailed  her  house,  and  destroyed  it, 
and  the  pupils  were  all  sent  to  their  homes,  to  return 
no  more  ! 

We  could  easily  forgive  the  rioters  at  Dartmouth 
college.  And  moreover,  a  clerical  new  organization 
agent  was  present,  greatly  to  encourage  them.  The 
churches  had  already  been  proved,  by  their  own  vol 
untary  testimony,  "the  bulwarks  of  American  slavery," 
and  nearly  all  the  large  literary  and  theological  insti 
tutions  in  the  land  were  buttressed  about  them.  We 
forgave  the  students,  remembering  who  it  was  that 
said,  "  It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his 
master,  and  the  servant  as  his  lord." 

This  chapter  will  close  with  a  highly  descriptive 
and  instructive  account  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  219 

Strafford  County  Anti-Slavery  Society,  in  1842,  at 
Dover,  much  of  it  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Rogers.  It 
was  largely  attended,  and  continued  three  whole  -days 
and  evenings.  Many  resolutions  were  discussed  and 
adopted  with  entire  unanimity.  The  most  important 
are  given  below.  The  first  was  offered  by  Rev.  John 
Parkman,  then  Unitarian  minister  of  Dover  : 

Resolved,  That  our  devout  acknowledgments  are 
due  to  that  Almighty  Power  whose  arm  has  sustained 
us  so  graciously  in  every  stage  of  our  enterprise,  for 
the  encouragement  furnished  to  future  exertion  by 
the  successes  of  the  past. 

The  resolution  was  earnestly  supported  by  the 
mover  and  Mr.  Garrison,  and  unanimously  adopted. 
The  next  were  as  below  : 

Whereas,  According  to  the  recognized  interpreta 
tions  of  the  United  States  Constitution,  and  the  uni 
form  practice  of  the  federal  government,  the  free  states 
are  pledged  to  the  support  of  slavery ;  and  whereas, 
southern  slaveholders,  by  their  oppression  and  cruelty, 
are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  incite  their  slaves  to  re 
sistance,  at  the  same  time  relying  upon  our  aid  to  de 
liver  them  in  their  hour  of  peril  ;  therefore, 

-Resolved,  That  we  solemnly  warn  the  whole  country 
that,  come  what  may  come,  compact  or  no  compact, 
Constitution  or  no  Constitution,  Union  or  no  Union, 
neither  duty  to  God  nor  allegiance  to  law  would  ever 
allow  us  to  obey  any  requisition  of  government  call 
ing  us  to  put  down  by  arms  any  rising  of  the  slaves. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  abolitionists 
to  call  town  meetings  in  their  respective  towns,  to 
consider  those  terms  of  the  federal  compact  which 
have  been  construed  to  bind  them  to  the  support  of 
slavery,  and  whether  they  would  comply,  should  they 
be  called  upon  to  do  so  by  the  United  States  Govern 
ment. 

Resolved,  That  the  church  that  has  set  and  that  con 
tinues  the  example  of  the  negro  pew,  (and  which 
example  has  been  so  eagerly  followed  by  the  proprie 
tors  and  conductors  of  our  steamboats  and  railway 


220  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

cars,)  is  guilty  of  an  attack  on  the  works  of  the  great 
Creator  which  gives  convincing  assurance  that  it  is 
not  governed  by  the  spirit  of  Christ,  nor  the  fear  of 
that  God  who  is  declared  to  be  "no  respecter  of  per 
sons." 

Resolved,  That  the  Eastern  Railroad  corporation,  in 
compelling  its  servants  to  outrage  people  of  color  by 
invidiously  commanding  them  out  of  respectable  into 
inferior  cars,  and  even  in  dragging  them  out  by  force 
and  violence,  is  cruelly  proscriptive  and  insulting  to 
•our  common  humanity. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  rejection,  by  the  United  States 
senate,  of  the  nominations  of  Messrs.  Everett,  Wilson 
and  Eastman,  upon  the  alleged  ground  of  opinion  in 
regard  to  slavery,  we  see  another  proof  of  the  undue 
predominance  of  southern  interests  in  our  national 
legislature,  and  we  regard  the  expression  of  pub 
lic  sentiment  recently  manifested  upon  this  point  as  a 
sign  that  the  free  states  are  becoming  sensible  of  this, 
and  of  the  connection  between  their  own  rights  and 
the  assertion  of  the  rights  of  the  slaves. 

Resolved,  That  the  omission  of  the  United  States 
senate  to  confirm  the  nominations  of  Everett  and 
others,  on  account  of  their  anti-slavery  opinions,  just 
named,  reveals  the  horrid  truth  that  the  South  holds 
slavery  to  be  the  paramount  interest  of  the  country ; 
and  that  the  resentment  manifested  at  this  refusal  by 
the  pro-slavery  northern  press  betrays  the  humiliating 
truth  that  the  North  regards  the  rejection  of  party 
nominations  as  a  greater  insult  to  liberty  than  the  en 
slavement  of  one-sixth  part  of  the  people. 

Resolved,  That  the  course  of  Andover  theological 
seminary  in  attempting,  through  some  of  its  profes 
sors,  to  justify  American  slavery  from  the  Bible,  in 
openly  opposing  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  and  in 
giving  to  the  community  a  ministry  that  has  generally 
proved  itself  the  sternest  obstacle  to  the  progress  of 
anti-slavery  truth,  has  been  such  as  should  excite  the 
deepest  apprehension  and  alarm  for  the  cause  of  hu- 
mai.ity  and  of  Christianity,  and  calls  loudly  for  the 
severest  rebuke  of  every  abolitionist. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  221 

Subjoined  are  the  editorial  remarks  of  Mr.  Rogers, 
in  the  Herald  of  Freedom  : 

The  Dover  Meeting. — We  had  intended  a  full 
account  of  this  great  and  interesting  and  most  im 
portant  convention,  for  this  week.  It  was  the  more 
necessary  as  the  report  of  the  officers  of  the  meeting 
is  so  condensed  and  bare.  The  proceedings  lose  much 
of  their  intrinsic  force  by  the  compressed  form  in 
which  they  are  presented.  Several  resolutions,  for  in 
stance,  that  were  acted  on  separately,  are  given  in  one 
and  as  if  passed  together.  We  are  about  starting  to 
accompany  Brother  Pillsbury  to  Hancock  and  Fran- 
cestown  to  a  series  of  anti-slavery  meetings,  and  can 
say  now  but  a  hasty  word  and  be  more  particular  here 
after.  The  meetings  were  held  in  the  old  Court 
House,  a  very  convenient  and  comfortable  room,  and 
well  employed  ;  and  as  fit  as  a  meeting  house  would 
be,  and  more  free.  There  was  a  goodly  attendance. 
The  mass  of  the  people  did  not  come  in.  They  were 
not  advised  to  by  their  controllers.  The  ministers  did 
not  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  give  the  people  notice 
and  exhort  or  encourage  them  to  attend.  They  did 
not  want  them  to.  They  wanted  them  not  to.  They 
were  there  themselves,  led  by  curiosity,  or  policy,  or 
fear,  or  all  three.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Young  was  there, 
in  nervous  but  heartless  attendance,  during  the  entire 
meeting.  He  looked  on  verily  like  a  priest  and  a 
Levite.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Horton  was  in  and  out,  with 
his  sneer  and  his  laugh,  looking  and  acting  more  like 
a  jolly  friar  than  a  Christian.  He  is  professionally  en 
gaged  in  reading  Church  of  England  service  Sundays, 
and  that  is  the  worship  of  his  sect.  Nothing  would 
be  deemed  by  him  "a  greater  insult,"  he  asserted  to 
some  one  during  the  convention,  "  than  to  be  called 
an  abolitionist."  Nothing,  we  remark,  would  be  so 
deep  an  insult  to  abolitionism.  "  I  would  not  be 
caught  shaking  hands  with  Mr.  Lloyd  Garrison,"  he 
said. 

We  intend  to  give  a  full  and  particular  representa 
tion  of  the  meeting,  and  of  the  part  acted  by  promi 
nent  opposers  in  attendance  as  well  as  *he  abolition 
ists,  if  we  can  get  time  before  we  forget  it.  It  was  a. 


'222  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

marvellous  meeting,  and  there  were  marvellous  human 
developments  there  which  would  instruct  the  times  if 
they  could  be  graphically  delineated.  Hogarth  would 
be  the  narrator  to  give  the  demeanor  of  a  pro-slavery 
minister  or  politician  at  an  anti-slavery  meeting. 

This  is  all  for  which  Mr.  Rogers  had  time  during 
the  week  of  the  convention.  Attending  other  meet 
ings  with  Mr.  Foster  and  myself  the  next  week  in 
other  counties,  to  which  his  presence  added  great 
charm  and  force,  prevented  but  a  few  more  remarks 
on  that  at  Dover,  in  the  next  Herald,  to  this  purport; 

THE  DOVER  MEETING  is  not  forgotten,  but  un 
avoidably  deferred.  We  have  never  attended  a  meet 
ing  of  any  character  so  splendidly  sustained  and  so 
orderly,  voluntarily  and  beautifully  conducted.  It 
was  a  self-governed  meeting.  Our  nominal  president 
declined  keeping  order  ;  and  when,  once  or  twice,  some, 
who  came  in  to  dispute,  called  for  order  and  bred 
some  little  disorder,  he  threw  the  meeting  on  its 
Self-government,  and  all  was  quietness.  Oh,  that  the 
people,  the  laboring  people,  the  toiling  people,  the 
livelong-day  working  men,  and  the  women,  whose  task 
is  never  done,  oh,  that  they  had  been  allowed  to  be 
present  and  hear  the  truths  that  would  have  found 
response  in  their  unsophisticated  hearts!  They  were 
not  allowed  to  be  there.  They  were  discouraged 
away  by  the  unprincipalled  politician  and  the  Jesuiti 
cal  priest.  How  shall  anti-slavery  get  at  them? 
Must  it  go  with  Foster  into  the  synagogues  on  Sun 
day,  and  speak  to  them  in  the  face  of  the  cannon's 
mouth  and  bayonet's  point  ?  When  shall  anti-slavery 
find  a  chance  to  speak  to  the  people  !  We  were  amazed 
.above  measure  to  hear  brother  Francis  Cogswell  and 
Rev.  Brother  Young  eulogizing  Garrison.  "  I  have 
been  highly  pleased  with  Mr.  Garrison,"  said  brother 
Young.  Brother  Young's  being  pleased  or  displeased, 
by  the  way,  was  infinitely  unimportant.  He  seemed 
•to  think  it  more  material  than  to  repent  of  his  mobo- 
cratic,  pro-slavery  spirit,  which  could  outrage  the 
-decencies  of^an  anti-slavery  meeting,  last  winter,  in 
his  own  meeting-house!  He  declared  solemnly,  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  223 

second  evening  of  the  convention,  that  he  was  pleased 
with  some  of  the  proceedings  of  the  meetings  !  an  in 
direct  clerical  blow  at  other  of  the  proceedings — viz. 
at  the  apostolic  plainness  of  Pillsbury,  and  the  Nathan- 
like  directness  of  the  faithful  Foster.  He  would 
compliment  the  infidel  Garrison  himself  if  he  could  . 
do  it  at  the  expense  of  these  men.  "  If  you  would 
send  out  such  men  as  Garrison,"  said  friend  Cogs 
well,  "your  cause  would  prosper."  "  How  long  have 
you  been  an  admirer  of  Garrison,  brother  Cogswell  ?" 
said  we.  "Oh,  I  have  not  liked  his  writings,"  said 
he.  "He  has  not  written  as  he  speaks,  here."  "Al 
ways,"  said  we,  "only  he  speaks  with  more  ultraism 
and  denunciation  than  he  has  ever  written.  "  Impos 
sible!  I  find  no  fault  with  anything  he  has  said 
here,"  said  Brother  Cogswell.  "Everybody  finds 
fault  with  Garrison,"  said  we,  "until  they  see  him  and 
hear  him  speak.  If  you  had  read  what  you  have 
heard,  it  would  have  bt&n  ferocious  denunciation.  But 
when  you  see  the  man  and  hear  him,  it  is  quite  an 
other  thing.  And,  brother  Young,"  said  we  to  him, 
as  he  stood  by,  praising  Garrison,  "brother  Young, 
we  never  shall  hear  anything  from  you  of  Garrison's 
'.infidelity  hereafter.  Remember  that."  *  *  *  * 
*  *  *  The  Strafford-county  anti-slavery  society 
is  auxiliary  to  the  N.  H.  anti-slavery  society.  We 
mention  the  auxiliaryship,  for,  on  that  point,  our 
friends  were  strenuously  assisted  by  the  genius  of  new 
organization  under  the  treacherous  form  of  neuterism. 
A  few  clergymen,  afraid  to  espouse  the  unpopular 
:side  of  old  organization,  and  ashamed  of  the  revealed 
infamy  of  the  new,  took  refuge  under  the  name  of 
neutrality,  or  neither  one  thing  nor  another.  This  an 
niversary  was  not  of  the  excrescence  which  they  con 
trived  to  form.  Such  excrescences  have  no  anniver 
saries.  They  do  not  live  long  enough.  They  never 
live  a  year  unless  kept  alive  by  external  galvanic  in 
fluences.  The  American  Union  lived  but  a  day. 
The  new  organization  lived  longer,  but  it  was  by  gal 
vanism.  It  has  undergone  a  change,  now,  "in  its 
mode  of  existence."  It  is  a  third  political  party,  with 
liberty  poles  up  and  flags  flying,  as  smart  as  any  of 
the  "nations  round  about." 


224  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Strafford  anti- slavery  organised  itself  as  an  auxil 
iary  to  the  old  movement.  And  it  is  its  grand  anni 
versary  we  are  noticing.  We  spoke  last  week  of  some 
of  the  names  in  it.  *  *  *  We  do  not  eulogize 
abolitionists  as  men  do  the  politicians,  but  we  proclaim 
.their  excellencies,  if  at  all,  in  behalf  of  our  despised 
and  down-trodden  cause.  We  claim  for  that  cause 
the  worth  of  those  enlisted  in  it.  We  remind  the 
scornful  world  that  "the  salt  of  the  earth  is  with  us." 
And  we  bid  them  beware  on  whom  they  are  trampling. 
But  anti-slavery  leans  not  on  the  merits,  however  great, 
of  those  who  have  embarked  in  it.  It  is  among  the 
chief  merits  of  any  man,  that  he  has  espoused  so  glo 
rious  a  cause  as  this.  But  this  is  delicate  ground  and 
we  hasten  from  it.  The  forenoon  of  the  first  day  was 
spent,  after  getting  over  the  choice  of  officers,  which 
being  matter  of  constitutional  obligation  could  not  be 
dispensed  with,  had  it  been  desired,  but  which  was 
disposed  of  in  the  most  summary  manner  possible,  by 
choosing,  at  one  vote,  all  the  last  year's  officers,  en 
masse,  in  discussing  a  resolution  offered  by  John  Park- 
man.  A  resolution  touching  the  influence  of  the 
church  and  clergy  on  our  enterprise  had  been  offered 
by  Brother  Lunt,  of  Somersworth.  It  went  to  the  very 
gist  of  the  movement,  and  touched  slavery  in  the  apple 
of  its  eye.  At  Brother  Parkman's  request,  it  was 
deferred  by  the  mover  till  the  consideration  of  one  he 
desired  to  introduce,  which  came  very  properly  as  a 
threshold  topic — to  wit:  acknowledging  obligation  to 
God  in  view  of  the  past  successes  of  the  cause,  and 
the  grounds  of  encouragement  found  in  them  to  future 
effort.  This  was  beautifully  discussed  by  Brothers 
Parkman  and  Garrison. 

The  afternoon  was  not,  in  our  opinion,  so  wisely  nor 
profitably  spent.  Instead  of  taking  up  Brother  Lunt's 
resolution,  as  should  have  been  done  in  its  order, 
Brother  Henry  C.  Wright,  with  a  view  perhaps  to 
bring  out  the  eminent  talent  present,  on  the  constitu 
tional  question,  introduced  a  series  of  resolutions  in 
volving  the  relations  slavery  sustains  to  that  poor  old 
unprincipled  compact.  The  afternoon  was  wasted  in 
a  waste  of  ability  on  a  heartless  theme.  There  was 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  225 

much  good  speaking,  which  in  Faneuil  hall  or  any  of 
our  meeting  houses,  on  some  patriotic  occasion,  would 
have  been  lauded  to  the  stars  by  the  party  presses. 
But  no  appeals  were  made  to  the  heart  or  conscience 
of  a  slave-holding  people.  For  one,  though,  we  once 
labored  a  good  deal  to  vindicate  the  old  military  com 
pact  from  the  reproach  of  slavery,  we  care  very  little 
about  it  now,  as  an  anti-slavery  question.  It  will  move 
the  hearts  of  the  people  neither  one  way  nor  the  other. 
While  as  pro-slavery  as  they  now  are,  the  thunders  of 
the  Almighty  alone  can  rouse  their  attention,  or  lead 
them  to  repentance.  The  awful  truths  of  the  BIBLE, 
not  the  constitution,  are  to  be  poured  on  their  obdur 
ate  hearts.  We  care  nothing  for  our  obligation,  one 
way  or  the  other,  under  this  compact,  to  interfere  in  a 
rising  of  the  southern  slaves.  Abolitionists,  as  such 
cannot  fight  for  the  slave,  nor  need  they  tell  the  south 
they  will  not  fight  against  him.  The  south  don't  ex 
pect  us  to.  She  thinks,  or  pretends  to  think,  aboli 
tionists  are  for  inciting  the  slaves  to  rise  and  kill  them 
all.  Of  course  the  masters  need  not  be  told,  nor  the 
north  either,  that  we  will  not  take  arms  in  behalf  of 
slavery.  That  slavery  is  unconstitutional,  we  have  no 
doubt.  But  the  nation  does  not  care  for  that.  They 
will  interpret  the  constitution  as  they  choose  to  under 
stand  it.  Least  of  all,  would  they  ever  alter  their 
habits,  or  change  their  social  character  to  suit  a  mere 
heartless  political  compact.  They  will  hold  slaves  in 
spite  of  everything  but  the  fear  of  hell.  We  would 
urge  on  them  the  horrible  iniquity  of  incurring  that 
awful  retribution.  They  would  fear  it  now  but  for  the 
ungodly  influence  of  the  clergy.  That  sears  their 
conscience  and  hardens  their  heart.  The  mind  of  the 
convention  was  perplexed  by  an  argument  on  the  con 
stitution.  No  doubt  the  clergymen  present  were 
greatly  edified  and  relieved  by  it.  We  put  it  to  the 
sound  judgment  of  all  concerned,  whether  the  subiect 
is  worth  our  anti-slavery  while.  The  constitution  can't 
hold  slaves  when  the  great  national  brotherhood  of 
thieves  shall  have  relaxed  their  grasp  upon  them. 
Had  the  Strafford  bar  been  present,  who  usually  occu 
pied  the  room,  or  had  the  court  been  sitting,  the  argu- 


226  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

ment  would  have  enlightened  their  heads,  if  it  could 
not  have  softened  their  hearts.  But  the  convention 
was  a  body  of  plain- minded,  simple-hearted  men  and 
women,  whose  souls  would  starve  on  such  husks  as 
statutes  and  constitutions. 

The  evening  meeting  was  at  Rev.  Mr.  Young's 
synagogue.  He  did  not  break  it  up  riotously,  as  he 
did  the  meeting  of  our  state  agents  last  winter,  which 
disorderly  and  mobocratic  proceeding  was  suffered  to 
pass  too  lightly.  Had  poor  laborers  mobbed  the 
meeting,  we  should  have  treated  them  with  much  less 
ceremony.  But  it  was  the  reverend  and  elevated  Mr. 
Young,  and  we  treated  it,  as  well  as  bore  it,  with  very 
deferential  submission.  It  was  really  a  ruffian  dis 
turbance.  Jeremiah  Young  broke  in  upon  the  de 
cency  and  order  of  the  meeting  with  the  rudeness 
and  lawlessness  of  a  ruffian.  He  differed  from  a 
drunken  brawler  only  in  form.  He  as  clearly  violated 
the  right,  and  so  did  friends  Cogswell  and  Pierce. 
They  declined  speaking  when  invited,  and  when  they 
had  the  right.  They  held  back  till  they  were  excited 
by  their  mobocratic  minister,  and  then  they  broke  out. 
They  must  not  think  to  treat  anti-slavery  quite  so 
contemptuously,  and  go  unreproved.  We  ought  to 
have  reproved  them  on  the  spot,  as  riotous  and  dis 
orderly  men.  But  the  evening  meeting  at  the  anni 
versary  was  not  disturbed.  We  take  occasion,  how 
ever,  to  enter  our  disapproval  of  its  arrangement.  It 
was  planned  beforehand  for  the  purpose  of  an  intel 
lectual  impression.  Not  exactly  so,  but  in  accordance 
with  that  sort  of  policy.  The  ablest  speakers  were 
selected,  instead  of  leaving  the  meeting,  these  among 
the  rest,  to  its  spontaneous  action.  Garrison  and 
Phillips  spoke,  but  not  like  themselves.  They  were 
hampered  by  the  arrangements  of  the  meeting.  They 
were  not  impelled  to  speak.  And  the  fugitive  Doug 
lass  was  mounted  away  up  into  the  mahogany  perch, 
where  the  people  look  up  to  gaze  at  Rev.  Brother 
Young,  Sundays,  as  the  Israelites  did  up  Mount  Sinai 
after  Moses,  or  after  him  who  abode  in  the  thick 
clouds  about  its  summit.  What  a  place  for  a  fugitive 
slave  to  speak  in,  and  to  tell  his  simple  story  !  It  was 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  22y 

incongruous  enough  to  be  in  the  synagogue  itself, 
where  a  free  colored  man  can't  be  allowed  a  pew,  as 
we  understand.  But  it  was  the  awkwardest  of  all 
places,  to  be  mounted  up  among  those  astral  lamps, 
as  high,  almost,  as  the  stars.  The  parties  all  per 
formed  as  well  as  men  could  under  the  circumstances, 
but  it  was  no  evening  for  the  afternoon  that  preceded 
it.  Rev.  Brother  Young  was  "  delighted  "  with  it.  No 
mob  dog  moved  a  tongue,  whereas,  had  the  meeting 
been  spontaneous,  Douglass  would  have  moved  hearts 
of  stone  there,  and  Garrison  and  Phillips  would  have 
made  the  house  quake  through  all  its  dedicated  re 
cesses.  Brother  Young  was  so  pleased  with  the  meet 
ing  that  he  condescended,  the  next  evening,  to  de 
clare  his  satisfaction  publicly.  He  was  pleased,  he 
graciously  said,  with  most  that  he  had  heard  ;  mean 
ing,  of  course,  the  parts  of  the  meetings  we  have  no 
ticed.  Collins  said  something,  at  a  late  hour,  of  the 
outrage  inflicted  on  himself  and  Douglass  on  board 
the  railroad  cars  from  Boston.  Douglass  gave  a 
.sketch  of  his  slave  experience,  and  of  slavery  itself, 
but  somewhat  embarrassed  by  his  unnatural  position. 
He  told  how  he  learned  to  read — of  his  conflict  with 
the  alphabet  and  the  abs  amid  the  hazards  of  slavery. 
He  learned  to  write  on  board  fences,  making  some  of 
his  early  capitals  with  their  heads  downwards  and 
looking  the  wrong  way.  It  was  laughable  to  hear 
him.  Still,  we  could  not  help  thinking  of  humanity 
driven  to  such  extremity  for  the  rudiments  of  knowl 
edge,  here  amid  the  lights  and  professions  of  a  relig 
ious  republic.  Here,  where  learning  is  as  common  as 
the  air,  the  poor  slave,  trodden  down  below  humanity, 
has  to  steal  the  crumbs  of  intelligence  that  lay  about 
almost  within  reach  of  the  dogs  in  the  street.  Thanks 
to  our  missionary,  theologizing,  Bible-circulating, 
tract-spreading  religion  !  It  has  slaves  whom  it  dooms 
to  death  for  learning  the  letters  and  syllables  of  the 
language  they  have  to  speak,  and  in  which  they  want 
to  read  the  Bible  ! 

Next  morning  the  meeting  opened  tree  and  unfet 
tered.  A  voluntary  prayer  was  offered,  not  as  an 
.unmeaning  ceremony,  as  is  common  in  fettered 


228  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

assemblies,  and  hunt's  resolution  was  called.  He 
made  a  plain,  sensible,  spirit-moving  speech  upon  it. 
Many  others  spoke,  as  mentioned  in  the  report  of  the 
meeting,  and  with  exceeding  power.  We  hardly  ever 
witnessed  a  half  day  like  it  ;  it  was  an  uninterrupted 
stream  of  solemn  interest  throughout,  particularly  the 
passage  between  brothers  Coues  and  Garrison. 
Brother  Coues  had  rarely  attended  anti-slavery  meet 
ings,  and  had  been  rather  repelled  by  apprehensions 
of  anti  slavery  harshness  and  denunciation.  He 
deprecated  in  his  speech,  which  was  very  beautiful 
in  manner,  but  we  think,  too  full  of  allowance  in  sen 
timent  to  pro-slavery  claims,  the  denial  of  Christian 
character  to  all  slave-holding;  and  claimed  for  them 
a  sort  of  indulgence  to  remain  in  their  unhallowed 
relation  to  their  fellow-men.  Garrison  answered  him 
in  apostolic  style  ;  and  the  manner  in  which  brother 
Coues  received  his  over-powering  admonition,  was 
most  affecting  and  delightful.  It  was  uttered  with 
Christian  fidelity,  and  received  with  Christian  magnan 
imity.  Garrison's  appeal  was  one  of  the  best  expos 
itions  of  Christianity  we  have  ever  heard.  Sundry 
clergymen  heard  it,  who  had  doubtless  often  warned 
their  flock  against  anti-slavery,  on  account  of  "the 
infidelity  of  Garrison."  They  now  heard  him, 
and  how  must  the  remembrance  of  their  falsehood 
have  blistered  their  consciences,  if  hot  iron  had 
not  seared  them  !  *  *  *  * 

The  Dover  Enquirer,  one  of  the  party  presses,  in  the 
magnificent  struggle  going  on  in  the  country  for  the 
loaves  and  fishes  of  office,  ventured  the  other  day  to 
speak  of  the  meeting,  and  of  our  remarks  upon  it. 
The  editor  supposed  he  had  espied  out  an  indefensi 
ble  sentence  or  two,  and  he  seized  upon  them  with 
true  pro-slavery  veracity,  leaving  out  all  that  common 
honesty  would  have  published  in  connection,  to  give 
the  reader  opportunity  to  judge  of  the  unwarrantable 
extracts.  Colonel  Wadleigh  (for  most  all  of  these 
political  editors  are  colonels  or  majors),  is  almost  fero 
cious  for  the  sacred  honor  of  the  meeting  house.  The 
politicians  and  militia  officers  nearly  all  are.  They 
think  meeting  houses  are  the  sure  defense  of  religion, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  229 

as  the  clergy  think  the  militia  is  the  sure  defense  of 
a  state,  which  the  ministers  profoundly  believe.  They 
have  little  confidence  in  any  other  security  but  mili 
tary.  "  Trust  God  "  they  say  with  Cromwell,  but  like 
him  they  would  emphasize  particularly,  "keep  your 
powder  dry."  The  editor  imagines  a  discrepancy 
between  our  doubting  whether  we  could  have  had  a 
meeting  house  for  our  discussion  meetings,  and  the 
fact  that  one  was  opened  to  evening  lectures.  It  was 
of  them  of  which  we  spoke,  and  not  of  the  public  lec 
tures  or  set  speeches.  These  are  not  near  so  sacri 
legious  as  free  discussion  on  resolutions.  We  do  not 
think  Brother  Young  would  consent  to  have  his  taber 
nacle  exposed  to  another  discussion  meeting  when 
Parker  Pillsbury  and  Stephen  S.  Foster  were  to  be  let 
loose  among  the  speakers.  The  Rev.  Brother  Horton, 
of  the  elegant  piece  of  gothic  that  stands  in  the  shoes 
of  Brother  Freeman's  old  law  office,  would  have  hardly 
allowed  Garrison  to  profane  his  solemn  sanctuary. 
But  they  were  not  asked  for  nor  offered.  It  was  very 
convenient,  for  Dover  has  so  few  that  are  interested 
in  anti-slavery,  that  almost  any  building  is  big  enough 
to  accommodate  its  meetings  there.  A  "  hard  cider  " 
meeting,  to  procure  for  the  poor,  bleeding,  miserable 
country  THE  RELIEF  of  a  couple  of  bank  vetoes,  would 
have  called  for  a  more  spacious  apartment.  Friend 
Wadleigh  would  have  been  out  at  that,  with  a  log 
cabin  or  musty  cider  cask  about  him  in  the  way  of 
badge,  chock  full  of  patriotic  excitement.  He  spoke 
of  our  hard  talk  about  Dover  people.  We  have  this 
to  say  of  them,  whether  we  said  it  before  or  not;  that 
so  small  an  attendance  in  so  populous  a  village,  on  a 
meeting,  that  for  magnitude  of  subject  and  for  talent 
and  ability  in  the  discussion,  has  never  been  paralleled 
in  New  Hampshire,  betrays  a  peculiarity  of  taste  not 
the  most  creditable.  A  whig  hurrah,  or  a  democratic 
Van  Buren  row  would  have  assembled  twenty  times  as 
many  at  least,  if  not  a  hundred.  The  laborers  of  the 
place  would  have  gladly  attended,  had  they  under 
stood  the  character  of  our  meeting  and  been  permitted 
to  go.  The  rulers  and  priests  dare  not  have  them  go. 
Any  laboring  people  under  heaven,  if  sober,  would 


230  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

have  been  delighted  with  that  meeting.  Probably 
Friend  Wadleigh  would  not.  He  is  a  politician.  Pol 
iticians'  tastes  could  not  like  it,  any  more  than  rum- 
burnt,  tobacco-steeped  palates  can  like  spring  water. 
O,  the  miserable  lot  of  a  political  editor  !  We  know 
none  more  deplorable,  except  a  rum-selling  store 
keeper's  or  taverner's,  All  his  life  long,  he  has  to 
stand  and  watch  the  weathercock,  and  drop  in  with  its 
variations.  To  conclude  with  Friend  Wadleigh,  we 
ask  him,  if  he  ventures  to  publish  anything  more  from 
our  paper,  to  give  enough  for  a  sample,  if  he  have  not 
space,  after  giving  the  whig  victories,  to  publish  the 
whole. 

The  second  evening  of  the  meeting  went  off  far 
better  than  the  .first.  The  church  and  minister  resolu 
tions  were  discussed.  The  meeting  was  not  quite  so 
unshackled  as  it  would  have  been  out  of  a  Solomon's 
temple.  For  dedication  is  a  decayer  of  free  discussion. 
"  Sacred  architecture,"  as  Daniel  Webster  calls  it,  is 
not  so  promotive  of  free  talk  or  thought  as  it  is  to 
something  more  agreeable  to  the  apprehension  of  car 
dinals  and  clergy.  The  resolutions,  however,  were 
pretty  profitably  discussed.  Friend  Smith,  of  Somers- 
worth,  made  a  good  speech.  Henry  C.  Wright  got 
Rev.  Brother  Young  into  the  sled  where  anybody  but 
a  divine  would  have  had  his  legs  broke.  A  divine  can 
get  out  of  a  sled  where  nobody  else  could.  And  if 
his  legs  are  broke  all  up  into  fragments,  he  can  walk 
off  on  them  as  though  nothing  had  happened.  Or,  if 
he  limp,  he  is  so  solemn  and  sacred  nobody  will  no 
tice  it.  The  auditory  were  called  on  to  vote.  They 
could  vote  as  they  pleased.  They  had  a  right  to 
speak.  So  had  Rev.  Brother  Young.  But  he  did  not 
choose,  or  dare  to.  But  when  the  vote  was  about  to 
be  taken,  he  got  up  in  true  cardinal  style  to  warn  the 
congregation  not  to  vote  for  the  resolves.  He  offered 
no  argument.  He  had  none  to  offer.  Nobody  could 
have  any,  in  truth.  So  he  offered  \\\s  ghostly  warnings- 
and  caveats.  He  whined  and  looked  solemn,  and 
tried  to  clergy -fy  the  people  out  of  their  free  vote.  It 
was  a  blockhead  effort.  He  had  no  right  to  try  to 
induce  that  audience  to  vote  by  any  other  influence 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  231 

than  argument  and  reason.  He  did  not  attempt  to 
offer  any  of  either.  And  Rev.  Brother  Scott,  too,  of 
the  Methodist-Episcopal  order,  who  had  through  the 
two  days  kept  his  solemn  and  cunning  peace,  he  rose 
up  on  the  eve  of  the  vote  to  interpose  his  sacerdotal 
authority.  Peradventure  some  poor  class-led  soul 
there,  had  been  delivered  enough  to  follow  conscience 
a  short  space,  and  vote  condemnation  to  a  church  and 
clergy  that  enslave  humanity.  He  groaned  out  his 
naked  opinion  with  all  the  impudence  of  Yankee  sect, 
and  all  the  importance  of  the  Episcopal  high  church, 
which  characterizes  that  order  of  our  priesthood. 
Why  did  he  not  attempt  an  argument,  or  else  hold  his 
tongue?  What  right  had  he  to  try  to  influence  re 
sponsible  immortals  by  long-faced  authority  merely? 
It  is  supreme  arogance,  and  an  insult  to  all  who  have 
to  hear  it.  Rev.  Daniel  I.  Robinson  attempted  an  ar 
gument.  He  is  a  Methodist,  but  he  is  a  man,  also, 
and  although  far  out  of  his  old  and  right  way,  as  we 
think  and  see,  he  does  not  attempt  to  lead  people  after 
him,  by  merely  a  denominational  disfigurement  of 
face.  We  detest  this  holy  puckerism,  and  will  scout  it. 
It  makes  fools  of  men,  and  roguery  under  it  is  su 
premely  detestable.  The  resolutions  passed,  in  spite 
of  the  reverend  scarecrows  and  lamentations. 

The  next  morning,  our  Massachusetts  friends 
returned  to  their  homes,  and  the  society  met  by 
adjournment  to  close  the  unfinished  business  ;  expect 
ing  only  a  short  morning  session.  Reverend  Brother 
Young,  Francis  Cogswell,  esquire,  and  some  other  dis 
tinguished  persons  were  promptly  in  attendance.. 
Brother  Young  seemed  to  feel  relieved,  by  the  absence 
of  the  Massachusetts  men,  of  the  embarrassment  which 
had  kept  him  two  days  silent,  and  he  entered  bravely 
into  debate.  A  resolution  was  up,  censuring  those 
churches  that  still  maintain  the  abomination  of  a 
negro  pew.  Brother  Young  took  hold  of  it  with 
quite  an  unceremonious  hand.  He  spoke  with  true 
clerical  superciliousness,  of  the  rashness  and  indiscre 
tion  of  abolitionists,  and  of  the  inacuracy  of  the  reso 
lution.  The  church,  he  said,  was  not  at  all  responsi 
ble  for  the  negro  pew.  They  did  not  own  the  pews> 


232  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

nor  build  them  ;  it  was  the  parish,  and  the  church  and 
parish  were  two  things — quite  distinct — as  distinct  as 
husband  and  wife,  he  said.  He  did  not  offer  any 
amendment  to  the  resolution,  nor  take  any  responsible 
part  in  the  meeting,  but  only  condescended  to  show 
the  absurdity  and  folly  of  the  resolve,  and  of  those 
who  advocated  it.  Brother  Cogswell  spoke  of  "the 
confusion  of  ideas  "  that  seemed  to  prevail  there,  in 
mistaking  pew-owners  for  the  church,  and  in  suppos 
ing  that  the  churches  had  the  real  estate  in  meeting 
houses,  and  the  regulation  of  negro  pews.  He  denied 
that  there  were  any  such  pews,  and  so  did  Brother 
Young,  and  called  for  proof.  In  reply  it  was  said, 
after  thanking  the  gentlemen  for  condescending  to  our 
debate,  that  there  was  some  "confusion  of  ideas"  in 
the  meeting,  but  that  it  still  appeared  to  abolitionists 
that  the  allowance  of  such  an  infernal  exclusion  in  a 
house  of  worship,  as  negro  pews,  was  the  prerogative 
of  the  church  and  clergy  who  led  the  worship  and 
accepted  the  house  and  the  act  of  parish— that  it  was 
not  a  question  of  estate,  but  of  unrighteous  distinc 
tion  ;  that  as  to  the  existence  of  it,  the  existence  of 
the  colored  people  in  the  country,  might  as  well  be 
questioned  and  as  reasonably  attempt  to  be  proved. 
The  pertinency  of  the  comparison  to  "  man  and  wife," 
by  Brother  Young,  when  speaking  of  church  and  par 
ish  as  two  distinct  things,  was  remarked  on,  as  not 
expressive  of  vast  separation,  inasmuch  as  they  twain 
were  one  flesh,  etc.,  whereupon  Brother  Young  denied 
that  there  was  any  prejudice  against  colored  people, 
or  desire  to  exclude  them — referred  to  distinction 
between  domestics  and  employers,  by  way  of  showing 
that  there  was  none  between  white  people  and  colored. 
On  being  routed  from  that  by  innumerable  instances 
of  negro  pews,  and  the  like  exclusions  all  over  the 
country,  which  were  poured  in  upon  him  by  the  meet 
ing,  the  reverend  brother  adroitly  retreated  upon 
this,  that  he  had  not  denied  the  existence  of  prejudice, 
but  that  it  was  only  against  the  color  of  the  skin.  It 
was  against  something  else,  he  said  ;  a  matter  which 
nobody  had  agitated,  or  cared  about ;  a  poor  attempt 
to  -get  off,  not  candid,  nor  true.  But  these  great 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  233 

meetings  should  have  reporters.  That  Dover  meeting 
fully  reported,  would  have  been  one  of  the  most 
entertaining  and  instructive  ever  holden.  The  elo 
quence  poured  forth  on  that  occasion,  should  not  be 
lost.  *  *  A  report  of  it  would  fill  a 

volume  ;  and  whoever  began  it  would  finish  it. 

So  far  the  Herald  report  of  Mr.  Rogers.  Surely 
but  for  him,  the  outside  world  would  have  known  very 
little  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  important 
anti-slavery  conventions  ever  held  in  the  state  or  the 
nation.  A  note  was  struck  in  it  which  rang  out  loud 
and  long  over  New  England  and  round  the  land,  as 
will  be  seen,  if  these  chronicles  get  truly  and  faith 
fully  recorded,  even  though  to  but  limited  extent, 
which  may  be  their  chief  calamity.  A  few  special 
explanatory  remarks  on  the  resolutions  adopted, 
may  still  be  in  place  for  the  benefit  of  those 
whose  fathers  and  mothers  had  no  active,  friendly 
hand  in  the  mighty  moral  upheavals  of  that  period. 
And  surely  they  were  almost  the  whole  nation  then, 
whatever  may  be  the  boast  of  to-day. 

The  first  resolution,  though  wholly  devotional,  had 
in  it  no  unmeaning  cant,  for  our  movement  was  strictly 
moral  and  religious,  and  probably  a  large  majority  of 
the  convention  were  devout  members  of  some  Chris 
tian  church. 

The  resolution  declaring  our  determination  not  to 
aid  in  the  rendition  of  escaped  slaves,  was  at  that 
moment  especially  proper,  were  it  only  as  an  agitating 
and  educating  instrumentality.  The  constitutional 
obligation  was  then  beginning  to  be  more  strenuously 
insisted  upon,  as  anti-slavery  sentiment  increased. 
And  the  way  to  Canada  was  more  and  more  patron 
ized,  and  many  faithful  conductors  were  found  for  the 
underground  railroad  up  to  that  city  of  refuge  from 


234  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

our  republican,  democratic  system  of  whips  and 
chains,  blood-hounds  and  red-hot  branding  irons. 
And  the  lore  of  college  and  university  and  the  wis 
dom  and  piety  of  the  theological  seminary  had  been 
called  in  or  voluntarily  tendered  in  support  and  sanc- 
tification  of  such  diabolical  doings.  And  the  great 
body  of  the  clergy,  as  well  as  the  rank  and  file  of 
both  political  parties,  were  ready  spaniels,  sharp  of 
scent,  fleet  of  foot,  to  run  and  bark,  to  catch  and 
hold  as  bidden.  And  this  explains  the  reason  why  we 
publicly  resolved  that  we  would  not  obey  the  fugitive 
slave  law. 

The  two  long  resolutions  relating  to  the  nomina 
tion  of  Edward  Everett,  as  minister  to  Great  Britain, 
with  two  other  appointments  of  less  significance, 
hinted  at  a  good  deal  more  than  was  true.  No  such 
refusal  was  meant  or  intended,  nor  certainly  for  any 
such  reason  as  was  held  out.  Neither  was  there  really 
reason  for  abolitionists  to  stoop  to  pick  up  such 
crumbs  of  comfort  from  the  circumstances,  as  some  of 
us  appeared  to  hope.  It  was  not  regard  for  northern 
rights  which  led  to  such  little  resistance  as  was  made. 
It  was  only  fear  of  disturbance  in  the  party  ranks, 
and  dread  of  loss  of  party  supremacy. 

And  then  as  to  Mr.  Everett's  anti-slavery  senti 
ments,  the  south  had  no  fear  of  them.  He  had  al 
ready  given  full  proof  of  his  subserviency,  at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  manners.  The  slaveholders  fre 
quently  chastized  their  slaves,  not  for  any  offence 
committed,  but  only  to  remind  them  that  they  were 
still  slaves,  and  must  know  and  keep  their  place.  Mr. 
Everett  was  now  called  to  a  new  and  high  dignity, 
and  it  seemed  proper  to  his  northern  masters,  or  at 
least  prudent,  to  impose  a  few  cracks  of  the  cow- 
skin,  were  it  only  to  quicken  his  memory,  as  well  as 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  235 

movement,  in  their  foreign  service,  to  them  at  that 
time,  nearly  as  important  as  any  at  home.  Mr.  Everett 
was  a  member  of  congress  in  1826,  when  an  amend 
ment  was  submitted  to  the  federal  constitution,  which 
brought  up  u  the  vexed  question"  of  slavery.  Then 
came  his  opportunity  to  declare  what  he  called  his 
"confession  of  faith"  on  the  terrible  problem.  His 
large  learning,  gained  at  Harvard  and  the  institutions 
of  Germany,  and  especially  scripture  learning,  for  it 
must  be  remembered,  he  was  Jteverend  Edward  Everett, 
led  him  to  strictly  examine  and  expound  to  his  fellow 
congressmen  the  true  meaning  of  the  Greek  word, 
doulos,  as  used  in  the  New  Testament.  His  speech 
on  the  occasion  was  printed  under  his  own  supervision, 
and  the  following  is  a  paragraph  : 

The  great  relation  of  servitude,  in  some  form  or 
other,  with  greater  or  less  departure  from  the  theoretic 
equality  of  man,  is  ///-separable  to  our  nature.  I  know 
of  no  way  by  which  the  form  of  this  servitude  can  be 
fixed,  but  by  political  institution.  Domestic  slavery, 
though  I  confess  not  by  that  form  of  servitude  which 
seems  to  be  most  beneficial  to  the  master,  certainly 
not  that  which  is  most  beneficial  to  the  servant,  is  not, 
in  my  judgment  to  be  set  down  as  an  immoral  and 
irreligious  relation.  I  cannot  admit  that  religion  has 
but  one  voice  to  the  slave,  and  that  this  voice  is  "rise 
against  your  master."  No  sir  ;  the  New  Testament 
says,  "slaves  obey  your  masters  ;  "  and  though  I  know 
full  well,  that  in  the  benignant  operation  of  Christian 
ity  which  gathered  master  and  slave  around  the  same 
communion  table,  this  unfortunate  institution  disap 
peared  in  Europe,  yet  1  cannot  admit  that,  while  it 
subsists,  its  duties  are  not  pre-supposed  and  sanctioned 
by  religion.  It  is  a  condition  of  life,  as  well  as  any 
other,  to  be  justified  by  morality,  religion  and  interna 
tional  law. 

In  another  paragraph,  Mr.  Everett  declared  : 
Sir,  I  am  no  soldier  ;  my  habits  and  education  are 
very  unmilitary  ;  but  there   is  no   cause   in   which   I 


236  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

would  sooner  buckle  a  knapsack  on  my  back,  and  put 
a  musket  on  my  shoulder,  than  that  of  putting  down 
a  servile  insurrection  at  the  south  ! 

In  1834,  Mr.  Everett  was  elected  Governor  of 
Massachusetts.  The  anti-slavery  enterprise  then  in 
its  fourth  year,  had  already  greatly  agitated  the  north 
and  south,  and  filled  the  latter  with  apprehension  and 
alarm.  While  northern  politicians  of  both  parties 
were  clamoring  for  the  suppression  of  The  Liberator 
and  other  anti-slavery  publications,  as  "  incendiary 
matter"  Governor  McDuffie  of  South  Carolina,  in  his 
message  to  the  legislature,  pronounced  slavery  "the 
corner-stone  of  the  republican  edifice."  And  he 
moreover  declared  that  the  laws  should  punish  such 
interference  with  slavery  as  that  of  the  abolitionists, 
by  death,  without  benefit  of  clergy. 

And  Governor  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  in  his 
message  to  the  legislature,  responded  on  this  wise  : 

Whatever,  by  direct  and  necessary  operation,  is  cal 
culated  to  excite  an  insurrection  among  the  slaves, 
has  been  held  by  highly  respectable  legal  authority, 
an  offence  against  the  people  of  the  commonwealth, 
which  may  be  prosecuted  as  a  misdemeanor  at  com 
mon  law.  The  patriotism  of  all  classes  must  be 
invoked  to  abstain  from  a  discussion,  which,  by  exas 
perating  the  master,  can  have  no  other  effect  than  to 
render  more  oppressive,  the  condition  of  the  slave  ; 
and  which,  if  not  abandoned,  there  is  great  reason  to 
fear,  will  prove  the  rock  on  which  the  union  will 
split. 

Surely,  with  such  a  record  as  this,  unsullied  by  any 
anti-slavery  blemish  except  of  most  indirect  character, 
and  above  all,  never  having  by  word  or  deed  expressed 
sympathy  or  approval  towards  the  anti-slavery  enter 
prise,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  the  south  felt  any  fear 
or  distrust  of  Mr.  Everett,  as  ambassador  to  the  court 
of  Great  Britain.  If  we  cannot  trust  him,  the  slave 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  237 

power  might  well  have  asked,  whom  can  we  trust  ? 
They  first  whipped  him  with  seeming  rejection,  that  he 
might  not  forget  who  were  his  masters,  and  then  con 
firmed  his  nomination. 

The  outcry  raised  against  the  south,  by  the  north 
ern  pro-slavery  press,  for  its  apparent  distrust  of 
Mr.  Everett,  is  well  characterized  in  the  second  of  the 
two  resolutions  at  the  Dover  convention.  It  was  the 
rejection  merely  of  a  party  nomination  ;  not  any  insult 
to  liberty! 

All  three  of  the  nominations  named  in  the  resolu 
tions,  were  confirmed  ;  the  other  two  were  New 
Hampshire  men.  Hon.  Joel  Eastman  was  appointed 
to  a  local  position  in  his  own  state,  and  Gen.  James 
Wilson  to  be  surveyor-general  of  Iowa. 

The  other  resolutions  in  the  report  relate  to  some 
prescriptive  outrages  perpetrated  on  persons  of  color 
by  the  officials  of  the  Eastern  railway,  then  running 
from  Boston  eastward  through  Lynn  and  Salem.  The 
church  setting  the  example  of  a  "  negro  pew,"  ex 
tending  often  to  the  sacramental  table,  as  well  as  to 
seats  in  the  meeting-houses,  the  Eastern  railroad  made 
haste  to  follow  it  in  arranging  its  passenger  cars.  A 
"negro  car,"  always  inferior  in  convenience  and  com 
fort,  was  provided,  and  all  colored  people,  men, 
women,  children,  well-dressed  or  ill,  cultivated  and 
accomplished,  or  barbaric  and  rude,  were  driven  into 
it.  Charles  Lenox  Remond,  an  elegant,  highly-bred 
colored  man,  a  perfect  gentleman  in  whatever  exalts 
and  ennobles  manhood,  an  intimate  friend  of  Lady 
Byron,  and  other  of  the  most  distinguished  personages 
in  Great  Britain  ;  and  Frederick  Douglass,  now  so 
well  and  widely  known  in  two  hemispheres,  intimate 
while  abroad  with  the  like  of  O'Connell  and  other 
eminent  men  of  the  two  houses  of  parliament,  both  of 


238  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

these,  on  returning  from  their  foreign  travels,  were 
subjected  to  such  cruel  indignities,  and  two  or  three 
times  with  added  and  most  aggravating  accompani 
ments. 

Senator  Wilson,  in  his  "  History  of  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  slave  power  in  America,"  volume  first,  page 
492,  refers  to  "  the  unchristian  prejudice  "  which  induced 
the  regulations  adopted  by  railroads  to  exclude  persons 
of  color  from  the  ordinary  passenger  cars,  and  com 
pelling  them  to  ride  in  cars  by  themselves,  or  sometimes, 
without  regard  to  tastes,  character  or  means,  in  "  sec 
ond-class  cars,"  bare  and  comfortless,  the  enforced  re 
ceptacle  of  all  who  from  any  cause,  could  not,  or 
would  not  take  seats  in  first-class  cars.  The  two  cor 
porations  in  Massachusetts,  which  were  prominent  in 
making  and  enforcing  these  odious  regulations,  were 
the  Eastern  and  the  Boston  and  New  Bedford.  *  * 

*  *     *     In  the  year  1841,  David  Ruggles,  a  colored 
man  of  New  York,  who  had  aided  six  hundred  of  his 
countrymen  in  escaping  from  slavery,  was  ejected  from 
the  cars  against  the  earnest  protest  of  Rev.   John  M. 
Spear,   for  the  simple  offence  of  taking    a  seat  with 
white  passengers.     He  brought  an  action  in  the  New 
Bedford  police  court  against  the  employes  of  the  com 
pany  for  an  aggravated   assault.     But   Justice   Crapo 
discharged  promptly  the  offenders.     On  the  Eastern 
railroad,  scenes  of  violence  were  of  frequent  occur 
rence.     Colored  persons  of  character  and  intelligence 
were,  in  several  instances,  violently  dragged  from  the 
cars  occupied  by  white  passengers  ;  and  in  some  cases 
their  friends,  who  remonstrated  against  such  brutality, 
were  treated  in  like  manner.     Among  those  forcibly 
ejected  from  the  cars,  was  Frederick  Douglass.     *     * 

*  *      *      The  general  agent  of    the  Massachusetts 
anti-slavery  society  was  repeatedly  insulted  while  trav- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  239 

eling  on  that  road,  for  remonstrating  against  its  un 
just  and  inhuman  usages.  In  one  instance  he  re 
ceived  blows  and  kicks,  from  the  effects  of  which  he 
did  not  recover  for  a  number  of  weeks.  Once,  a 
colored  man  being  ejected,  Dr.  Daniel  Mann  and  sev 
eral  other  white  passengers  remonstrated,  when  they, 
also,  were  seized  and  dragged  violently  out  and  pro 
hibited  from  pursuing  their  journey,  "  unless  they  be 
haved  themselves  !  "  Dr.  Mann  brought  an  action  in 
the  Boston  police  court  against  the  conductor  of  the 
train,  but  could  obtain  no  redress  for  such  high-handed 
outrages.  *  *  Charles  Lennox  Remond 

was  a  native  of  Salem,  a  colored  gentleman  of  intelli 
gence  and  worth,  and  of  highly  preposessing  man 
ners.  In  England,  where  he  had  spent  nearly  two 
years,  he  had  vindicated  the  cause  of  the  oppressed, 
and  had  won  the  confidence  and  applause  of  the 
British  abolitionists.  He  was  everywhere  hailed  as 
the  champion  of  his  race,  and  treated  with  most 
friendly  and  respectful  consideration.  He  bore  from 
England  the  warmest  sympathies  and  best  wishes  of 
the  friends  of  emancipation.  He  was  commissioned 
to  bear  the  address  of  sixty  thousand  Irishmen  to 
their  countrymen  in  America,  headed  by  the  names  of 
O'Connell  and  Father  Mathew.  Arriving  in  Boston, 
he  went  to  the  Eastern  railroad  station  to  take  passage 
for  his  home  in  Salem.  He  was  not  allowed  to  take 
his  seat  with  other  passengers,  put  was  compelled  to 
occupy  what  was  called  the  "  Jim  Crow  "  car.  Several 
of  his  white  friends,  wishing  to  welcome  him  on  his 
return,  met  him  at  the  station  and  took  seats  with  him. 
They  were,  however,  ordered  by  the  conductor  to 
leave  the  "Jim  Crow  "  car,  voluntarily,  or  to  be  removed 
by  force  !  Thus  was  this  gentleman  of  character  and 


240  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

culture,  fresh  from  his  travels  and  the  hospitalities  of 
the  best  families  of  England,  rudely  and  roughly 
treated  on  his  arrival  in  his  native  state. 

And  Senator  Wilson  could  have  named  others  be 
sides  Dr.  Mann,  who  suffered  similar  indignities  and 
for  the  same  reasons.  James  N.  Buffum  had  traveled 
extensively  in  Britain  with  Douglass,  addressing  im 
mense  anti-slavery  meetings  ;  but  in  his  own  town  of 
Lynn,  with  him  was  dragged  out  of  railway  cars, 
making  no  resistance  except  to  cling  to  the  backs  of 
the  seats,  which,  as  they  were  athletic  men,  they  gen 
erally  brought  out  with  them,  "  one  in  each  hand." 
The  railroad  authorities  at  length  became  so  indig 
nant  that  they  refused  to  allow  the  trains  to  stop  in 
Lynn  at  all.  And  for  several  days  the  rule  was  en 
forced.  At  one  time  they  sent  a  police-officer  with 
the  trains  to  see  that  their  atrocious  mandates  on 
the  subject  of  negro  hate  were  obeyed.  One 
day  Mr.  Buffum  saw  a  white  man  riding  in  the 
cars  with  a  pet  monkey  in  his  lap.  He  good-naturedly 
asked  the  conductor  :  "  How  is  this,  that  you  drag 
out  'the  connecting  link,'  as  you  call  the  colored  man, 
and  permit  the  two  extremes,  the  white  man  and  the 
monkey,  the  opposite  link  on  the  brute  side,  to 
ride  unmolested  as  any  white  gentlemen?"  The 
conductor  did  not  reply.  He  had  his  orders  and  must 
obey  them.  And  the  shameful  "Jim  Crow"  car  con 
tinued,  with  occasional  outrages,  till  public  opinion 
rose  indignantly  on  legislation,  and  compelled  enact 
ments  sweeping  them  out  of  existence.  "  The  negro 
pew  "  in  churches  can  still  be  found,  north,  east  and 
west,  as  well  as  south. 


CHAPTER     XL 

DISCUSSION  ON  CHURCH  ORGANIZATIONS  BY  REV.  MR. 
PUTNAM  AND  REV.  MR.  SARGENT  —  HILLSBOROUGH 
COUNTY  CONVENTION  AT  HANCOCK  — AND  MEETING 
AT  NASHUA,  BY  MR.  FOSTER,  AND  WHAT  CAME 
OF  IT. 

The  Strafford-county  anniversary  has  occupied  much 
space,  but  discloses  the  genius  and  spirit,  philosophy 
and  methods,  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise  ;  and  could 
the  addresses  and  speeches  have  been  reported  and 
published  with  the  proceedings,  the  wondrous  ability 
of  at  least  some  of  its  advocates,  would  have  been  no 
less  apparent.  The  editor  of  the  Herald  earned  un 
payable  thanks  for  his  glowing  descriptions  which  are 
as  just  and  truthful  as  they  are  brilliant  and  beautiful. 

New  organizanion  was  now  asserting  itself,  and 
gave  us  some  inconvenience,  chiefly  through  clerical 
influence  and  action,  as  the  following  incident  will 
reveal  : 

In  the  winter  of  1841,  Rev.  Rufus  A.  Putnam,  Con 
gregational  minister,  of  Chichester,  proposed  an  even 
ing  discussion  with  our  faithful  friend,  Rev.  Mr. 
Sargent,  of  West  Chester,  on  the  question  :  "Are  our 
church  organizations  Christian?"  Happening  that 
week  to  be  at  home  in  Concord,  and  the  moon  and 
sleighing  favoring,  I  proposed  to  Mr.  Rogers  that  we 
attend  and  hear  the  arguments.  Knowing  that  our 
new  organized  clergy,  of  most  of  the  sects,  were  then 
in  arms  to  defend  them,  he  readily  consented,  and 
just  as  the  sun  was  setting  and  the  moon  rising,  we 


242  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

set  out  on  our  ride  of  seven  or  eight  miles.  A  mile 
short  of  Mr.  Putnam's  meeting-house,  where  the 
meeting  was  held,  lived  Mr.  Benjamin  Emery,  a  true 
anti-slavery  man,  and  there  we  left  our  horse  and 
sleigh,  and  with  him  walked  the  remainder  of  the  dis 
tance.  We  arrived  in  time  for  the  preliminary  exer 
cises,  which  were  quite  as  many  and  lengthy  as  at  the 
ordinary  Sunday  services  of  that  day,  now  over  forty 
years  ago.  Mr.  Putnam  read  a  hymn,  which  was  sung 
by  the  choir.  Then  the  Methodist  minister  offered 
(performed,  Rogers  called  it),  a  long,  miscellaneous 
prayer.  The  people  were  not  impressed,  nor  inter 
ested  ;  and  it  seemed  a  waste  of  valuable  time.  Some 
had  come  long  distances  to  attend  what  it  was  pre 
sumed  would  be  an  interesting,  instructive  and  profit 
able  discussion,  and  were  impatient,  evidently,  to  get 
at  the  business  of  the  occasion.  It  might  be  unchar 
itable  to  presume  that  the  unexpected  arrival  from 
Concord  had  something  to  do  with  the  prolonged  de 
votional  exercises.  But  the  editor  of  the  Herald  had 
voice  as  well  as  pen,  and  it  would  have  been  uncourt- 
eous  not  to  have  invited  him  to  a  part  in  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  meeting.  But  undoubtedly  the  less  time 
allotted  to  him,  the  better  it  might  be  for  the  affirma 
tive  side  of  the  question  in  hand.  And  so  some  were 
not  surprised  that  prayer  and  praise  were  thus  pro 
longed,  even  though  inopportune,  for  still  another 
hymn  had  to  be  solemnly  read  and  then  sung. 

There  was  a  good  country  audience,  some,  like  Mr. 
Rogers  and  myself,  having  come  several  miles.  Pre 
liminaries  being  settled  at  last,  Mr.  Putnam  appeared 
behind  a  huge  pile  of  notes,  newspapers,  and  other 
signs  of  most  elaborate  preparation,  and  commenced 
a  tiresome  apology,  for  ill  health,  many  duties,  includ 
ing  attending  a  funeral,  and  general  want  of  suitable 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  243 

preparation  and  arrangement.  He  feared  he  shouid 
not  be  able  to  speak  to  acceptance,  on  account  of 
bodily  infirmity,  but  would  do  the  best  he  could, 
and  there  were  others  present  who  would  take  part 
in  the  meeting,  which  was  to  be  free  to  all.  He  con 
tinued  in  this  strain  till  we  felt  constrained  to  believe 
that  he  had  made  all  possible  preparation,  and,  be 
sides,  was  not  over-desirous  that  his  opponents  should 
have  more  time  than  was  their  right.  And  so  it  turned 
out.  He  had  a  manuscript  discourse  of,  apparently, 
about  his  usual  length,  besides  piles  of  newspapers, 
which  he  read  at  intervals,  with  dry  and  desultory 
comments  and  needless  explanations,  consuming  quite 
two  hours,  in  spite  of  "bodily  ailments,"  which,  had 
they  been  as  described,  should  have  kept  him  at  home. 
His  main  subject,  instead  of  being  as  was  expected, 
the  Christianity  of  the  churches,  was  the  infidelity  and 
Jacobinism  of  the  old  organization.  And  he  tried  to 
prove  it  by  showing  that  Garrison  and  others  in  Mass 
achusetts  had  betrayed  the  anti-slavery  cause,  by  sift 
ing  into  The  Liberator  other  subjects  than  anti-slavery, 
such  as  non-resistence  and  woman's  rights,  no  Sabbath, 
no  ministry,  no  church  of  Christ.  He  did  not  pretend 
that  these  subjects  were  brought  openly  into  the  anti- 
slavery  society,  but  we  were  secretly  promoting  them. 
He  read  a  part  of  the  phrenological  character  of  Gar 
rison,  as  given  by  O.  S.  Fowler,  to  prove  his  secretive- 
ness,  and  that  he  did  not  tell  everybody  all  he  thought. 
And  Rogers  and  Pillsbury  and  Foster  had  introduced 
these  subjects  into  New  Hampshire,  and  Garrison  and 
Rogers  had  even  carried  them  to  England.  He  read 
with  all  the  emphasis  at  his  command,  something  from 
a  print  he  had  brought,  advocating  the  right  and  pro 
priety  of  unlimited  intercourse  of  the  sexes,  and 
placed  it  with  his  other  documents,  which  he  had  given 


244  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

his  audience  to  understand  were  publications  'of  old 
organization  abolitionists.  That  was  a  little  too  atro 
cious  for  Mr.  Rogers.  He  at  once  rose  and  demanded 
of  him  "the  author  of  that  beastly  stuff!"  and, 
moreover,  why  he  read  it  here.  Mr.  Putnam  admitted 
that  it  was  not  an  anti-slavery  publication,  but  then 
Garrison  associated  in  convention  with  persons  of 
such  sentiments,  though  he  by  no  means  presumed  he 
held  them  himself.  "But  why,  then,  produce  them 
here,  and  read  them  as  though  you  believed,  and  in 
tended  your  hearers  should  believe,  that  he  both  held 
and  inculcated  them?"  I  had  till  that  moment 
thought  Mr.  Putnam  honest,  but  easily  influenced  by 
his  abler  clerical  brethren  ;  though  I  could  never  have 
suspected  him  of  any  such  duplicity,  not  even  as  a 
"pious  fraud."  Had  not  some  one  been  there,  how 
ever,  to  arraign  him,  probably  many  present,  and 
nearly  all  his  own  people,  would  have  supposed  such 
"beastly  stuff"  old  organized  anti-slavery  morality. 
The  purpose  was  palpable  that  by  such  reckless  au 
dacity  he  expected  to  prove  that  the  abolitionists  were 
promoting  the  most  shameless  libertinism,  under  the 
guise  of  anti-slavery.  Had  he  been  let  alone,  he 
doubtless  would  have  done  it,  at  least  to  his  own  sat 
isfaction,  and  to  the  great  delight  of  all  who  implicitly 
trusted  him.  And  yet  we  certainly  always  regarded 
Mr.  Putnam  as,  on  the  whole,  one  of  the  very  best  of 
the  new  organized  ministers.  But  there  he  was  in  a 
dilemma  like  that.  Self-convicted,  too.  Mr.  Rogers 
charitably  attributed  it  to  ministership.  The  end  he 
imagined  to  be  right.  Of  the  means  there  need  be 
no  scruple  nor  hesitation.  Mr.  Rogers  said,  and 
doubtless  truly,  that  had  the  device  of  reading  that 
filthy  newspaper  been  perpetrated  in  a  law  court,  it 
would  have  excluded  the  daring  offender  from  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  245 

court,  and  the  rabble  that  haunt  the  court-house  would 
have  spurned  him  from  their  groggy  circle.  In  his  own 
words,  Rogers,  in  describing  the  scene  in  the  Herald, 
farther  said  :  "There  is  some  regard  for  principle  in 
a  desperate  game  of  sharps  before  a  jury  ;  but  not  a 
shadow  of  any  in  a  church  trial.  *  *  *  *  Every 
man's  and  every  woman's  experience,  who  has  had 
trial  of  them,  can  testify  that  this  is  true.  *  *  * 
*  *  We  are  not  speaking  of  the  clergy  as  men, 
aside  from  their  office.  "But  bring  the  church  into 
straits ;  disturb  their  denomination  ;  touch  their  cler 
ical  power,  and  they  will  out  Herod  the  evil  one  him 
self  in  their  obliquity.  Literally  they  stick  at 
nothing." 

Certainly  every  word  of  this  was  warranted  by 
what  we  saw  that  evening.  But  at  the  end  of  nearly 
two  hours'  weary  reading  and  not  less  tiresome  talk 
ing,  Mr.  Putnam  sat  down.  Once  in  the  time,  his  op 
ponent  in  the  discussion,  Rev.  Benjamin  Sargent, 
asked  him  one  simple  question.  He  was  reading  a 
charge  against  the  Methodist  church,  relating  to  sla 
very,  made  by  Stephen  Foster  in  some  printed  paper. 
Mr.  Sargent  asked  if  the  charge  were  not  true.  Mr. 
Putnam  declined  to  answer.  One  of  his  church  mem 
bers  came  to  his  rescue,  and  in  most  flippant  tones 
protested  against  any  interruption.  When  Mr.  Rogers 
asked  why  Mr.  Pntnam  read  the  "  beastly  "  newspaper 
he  did,  the  same  church  member  had  interposed,  and 
quite  officiously,  as  if  in  some  sense  the  armor-bearer 
of  his  chief.  He  said  "  Mr.  Putnam  might  as  well 
answer  forty  questions  as  one."  Of  some  questions, 
he  could  more  easily  have  answered  forty  thousand, 
than  the  single  one  then  asked. 

Mr.  Sargent,  in  his  brief  reply,  expressed  a  just  and 
proper  regret  that  the  question  proposed,  had  not  yet 


246  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

been  even  approached.  He  asked  what  the  opinions 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  on  the  sabbath  question, 
the  non-resistance,  or  woman's  equality  questions  had 
to  do  with  "  The  Christianity  of  Church  Organiza 
tions  ? "  to  consider  which  the  meeting  had  been 
called.  He  had  no  objection  to  stating  what  were  the 
views  of  Garrison  on  all  those  subjects.  As  to  the 
Sabbath,  he  showed  and  proved  that  Garrison  held 
exactly  with  the  Quakers,  and  they  with  John  Calvin, 
Martin  Luther,  Archbishops  Paley,  Whately,  and  sev 
eral  others  whom  he  named.  On  non-resistance  he 
cited  Jesus,  the  Christ,  in  the  whole  letter  and  spirit 
of  his  memorable  sermon  on  the  mount.  For  woman's 
equality  in  the  church,  he  quoted  him  who  said  : 
"there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek;  bond  nor  free; 
male  nor  female."  He  spoke  of  sectarianism  as 
non-christian,  as  a  denial  practically,  of  the  Christian 
name  and  faith  ;  that  as  there  was  neither  Jew  nor 
Greek,  male  nor  female,  so  there  could  be  neither 
Congregational  nor  Presbyterian,  Baptist  nor  Metho 
dist  ;  and  consequently,  that  our  church  organizations, 
whatever  else  they  may  be,  or  may  not  be,  are  surely 
not  Christian,  nor  even  Paulian.  He  thought  Mr.  Put 
nam  admited  that  sectarianism  was  unchristian,  by  his 
frequent  association  with  his  neighbor,  the  Methodist 
church.  Mr.  Putnam  denied  that  his  association  with 
Methodism  was  frequent.  Mr.  Sargent  said  he  had 
been  told  moreover,  that  a  member  of  Mr.  Putnam's 
church  had  been  excommunicated  for  attending 
Methodist  meetings.  That,  too,  Mr.  Putnam  denied. 
But  we  were  assured  on  the  spot  that  it  was  true,  and 
that  the  person  was  then  present.  Mr.  Rogers  offered 
the  columns  of  the  Heraldic  any  authentic  statement 
of  the  facts,  but  I  think  no  statement  by  either  side 
ever  came. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  247 

Mr.  Sargent  spoke  but  briefly,  though  every  word 
was  to  the  point  and  the  purpose,  and  on  the  question 
mainly  for  which  the  meeting  had  come  together.  On 
sitting  down  he  expressed  the  hope  that  Mr.  Rogers 
and  myself  might  have  a  little  time,  late  as  it  had 
become,  Mr.  Putnam  having  occupied  quite  two  hours. 
But  before  either  of  us  could  speak,  Mr.  Putnam  had 
to  reply  to  Mr.  Sargent  ;  though  not  with  success,  but 
quite  otherwise,  we  thought.  Next,  the  church  mem 
ber  who  had  frequently  spoken,  or  interrupted  speak 
ing,  had  to  be  heard  at  some  length,  he  too  having 
numerous  minutes  and  documents  to  assist  his  mem 
ory.  Finally,  the  coast  being  clear,  Mr.  Rogers  rose, 
evidently  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  large  part  of 
the  audience.  He  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  seeing 
so  goodly  a  number  present  to  hear  for  themselves. 
Anti-slavery  he  thought  had  been  deprived  of  a  fair 
hearing  before  the  people,  who  had  been  greatly 
alarmed  or  hindered  by  the  calumnies  of  the  clergy 
and  church.  But  he  believed  if  the  people  could  hear 
candidly  and  impartially,  they  would  render  a  just 
verdict  and  the  slave  would  have  his  liberty.  He  said 
the  drift  of  Mr.  Putnam's  reasoning  was  to  convict  the 
old  organized  abolitionists  of  wickedly  incumbering 
the  anti-slavery  cause  with  extraneous  doctrines  and 
demands.  He  denied  the  charge  wholly  and  totally  ; 
declared  the  old  organized  abolitionists  had  but  one 
fundamental  doctrine  and  demand,  namely  :  that  our 
slave-holding  was  a  sin  and  a  crime,  and  should  be 
immediately  and  unconditionally  abandoned.  Whereas 
the  new  organization  had  many  doctrines,  such  as 
sacredness  of  human  governments,  and  church  organ 
izations,  and  their  machinery  ;  sabbath,  ministry,  and 
the  like,  woman's  inferiority,  necessity  of  litigation, 


248  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

and  many  other  things,  and  he  proved  all  his  positions 
by  simply  producing  and  reading  the  constitutions  of 
both  organizations. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  asked  if  he  had  not  changed  his 
opinion  respecting  anti-slavery  political   action.     He 
said  frankly,  he  had,  but  becoming  convinced  that  all 
legislation  was  force,  and   that  as  anti-slavery,  in  our 
opinion,  was  a  strictly  moral  and  religious  movement, 
a  work  of  repentance  and  reformation,  we  could  not 
resort  to  physical  force.     He  contended  that  without 
the  life-taking  power,  or  the  power  and  right,  usurped 
or  assumed  right,  to  enforce  its  decrees,  government 
would  be  powerless  ;  a  mere  exhortation. 
That  if  slave-holding  were  forbidden  by  congress,  it 
must  be  with  penalties  and  power  to  enforce  them  at 
whatever  cost,  otherwise  all  such  legislation  must  be 
null  and  void.     If  the  penalty  were  resisted  by  force, 
it  must  be  repelled  by  force  to  the  extent,  if  need  be, 
of  cutting  off  the  head  of  every  offender  by  the  sword. 
And  so,  to  enforce  a  law,  would  be  as  the  march  of  an 
army.     Or  if  the  penalty  were  not  death,  but  only 
imprisonment,  and  the  culprits  refused  to  enter  the 
dungeon  doors,  the  sword  of  the  marshal  must  enforce 
the  penalty  even  at  cost  of  life.     Or  if  fine  only  be  the 
penalty,  it  must  be  collected  though  at  point  of  bayo 
net  or  sword.     If  law  be  penal,  it  is  capital  ;  and  if 
not  penal  it  is  no  law.     "  Finally,"  said  Rogers,  "legal 
abolition  of  slavery  would  be  abolition  at  the  point  of 
the  sword,  and  as  decidedly  military  in  spirit,  and  as 
far  from  being  moral  as  would  be  an  invasion  of  the 
slave    plantations    by    an    anti-slavery    army."       Mr. 
Rogers  told  the   people   no   less   frankly  that   as   an 
abolitionist,  he  felt  compelled  to  denounce  the  clergy 
as  an  anti-christian  order,  and  the  sectarian  church 
organizations,  as  disowned  by  Christianity  and  forbid- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  249 

den  of  God.  They  used  their  influence,  he  said,  in 
the  name  of  Christianity,  to  crush  out  the  anti-slavery 
enterprise.  Had  they  not  done  that,  we,  as  abolition 
ists,  should  have  let  them  alone.  But  in  doing  that, 
they  proved  themselves  false  to  the  Christian  name 
and  all  that  it  implies,  and  fidelity  to  the  slave 
demanded  that  we  unmask  and  expose  them.  Had 
they  let  the  slave  and  his  cause  alone,  the  clergy 
might  rule  the  people,  and  the  people  might  bow  to 
their  authority,  as  to  any  other  idolatry,  and  anti- 
slavery  might  never  have  molested  them. 
Mr.  Rogers  had  every  ear,  and  it  was  a  golden  oppor 
tunity  well  improved.  It  is  impossible  to  convey  any 
idea  of  the  impression  produced  at  that  late  hour  of  a 
winter's  night,  many  having  come  several  miles  to 
attend  the  meeting. 

My  own  part  in  the  discussion  was  of  little  account, 
and  almost  literally  postponed  to  the  eleventh  hour. 
Our  church-member  opponent,  in  the  plenitude  of  his 
charity,  had  declared  he  could  even  fellowship  me  as 
an  abolitionist.  When  I  rose,  at  the  last  moment,  there 
was  only  time  for  me  to  decline  the  extended  hand,  in 
the  name  of,  and  for  the  sake  of  anti-slavery  consist 
ency,  fidelity  and  moral  integrity.  In  the  first  place, 
our  friend  was  an  abolitionist,  tried  and  true,  as  was 
supposed.  Then  he  apostatized  into  the  new  organi 
zation  and  liberty  party.  Then  he  back-slid,  or  down- 
slid,  into  the  whig  party,  and  became  a  champion  in 
the  presidential  canvass, 

"  For  Tippccanoe  and  Tyler  too," 

until  it  was  almost  as  hard  to  count  him  as  it  was  the 
speckled  pig  of  Uncle  Peter.  He  said  he  could 
count  them  all,  only  that  one  ;  but  he  jumped  and 
flew  around  so,  it  was  impossible  to  count  him.  The 
meeting  adjourned  in  excellent  humor,  though  my  op- 

16 


250  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

ponent  regretted  that  there  was  no  time  to  reply  to 
my  illustration  of  the  pig,  which  he  declared  was  of 
the  nature  of  a  libel.  And  we  were  afterward  in 
formed  that  he  deliberately  contemplated  a  suit  at 
law,  to  restore  his  offended  dignity.  But  no  such 
calamity  ensued. 

We  footed  it  briskly  back  under  the  bright  moon 
to  Mr.  Emery's,  the  merry  sleighbells  of  the  farm 
ers  from  remote  hills  and  valleys  swiftly  passing  us. 
A  hasty  cup  of  tea  and  accompaniments,  while  the 
boys  put  our  Tunbridge  in  position  from  her  warm 
stable,  well  prepared  us  for  our  hour's  midnight  ride, 
and  we  trotted  gaily  into  our  own  street  and  yard  just 
as  the  old  Baptist  church  clock  told  the  hour  of 
twelve. 

Such,  at  that  time,  was  new  organized  clerical  anti- 
slavery.  And  the  best  of  it.  It  is  a  sorrowful  con 
sideration,  that  nearly  all  the  parties  named  in  this 
narration  have  gone  to  the  realm  of  departed  spirits. 
A  good  reason  why  their  words  and  works  should  be 
regarded  with  all  the  respect  and  charity  possible. 
None  doubted  Mr.  Putnam's  hatred  of  slavery ;  but, 
with  his  sect  generally,  especially  its  ministers,  the 
church  organization  and  its  machinery  were  more 
than  the  liberty  of  the  enslaved.  Strange  how  priest 
and  Levite  are  much  the  same  in  all  time.  And  the 
"  Good  Samaritans,"  though  often  outlawed  by  state 
and  church,  are  ever  foremost  in  rescuing  the  robbed 
and  despoiled,  the  fallen  and  oppressed,  from  even 
the  thraldom,  civil  and  political  as  well  as  ecclesias 
tical,  of  the  church  and  clergy  themselves. 

This  work  is  Acts  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Apostles,  not 
history  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise.  The  present 
generation  can  know  little  of  the  labors  and  experi 
ences  of  the  years  between  1831  and  1861  ;  nor  can 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  251 

any  better  lessons  be  now  given  than  by  true  descrip 
tions,  word  pictures,  taken  on  the  spot,  and  by  the 
actors  in  or  witnesses  of,  the  scenes  and  encounters. 
The  following  report  of  a  Hillsborough  county,  New 
Hampshire,  convention,  is  also  by  Mr.  Rogers.  He 
aided  me  immensely  in  conducting,  he  shall  now  aid 
me  no  less  in  reporting  it  to  history  and  posterity. 
The  world  knows  far  too  little  of  the  editor  of  the 
Herald  of  Freedo7n.  Part  of  the  account,  personal  to 
this  writer,  is  given  with  deep  humility,  and  only  at 
the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  few  surviving  friends 
and  fellow-laborers  ^in  the  great  conflict,  whose  will 
and  wishes  may  well  be  his  highest  law.  It  is  from 
the  Herald  of  October  2ist,  1842  : 

THE  HANCOCK  CONVENTION. — Another  grand  anti- 
slavery  meeting  has  transpired.  And  truth  enough 
has  been  told  to  revolutionize  a  nation,  with  either 
eyes  to  see  or  ears  to  hear,  or  hearts  to  understand. 
Our  nation  has  neither.  We  can  hope  for  little  more 
than  to  prevent  the  coming  on  of  another  generation 
like  the  present.  We  may  cripple  the  power  of  the 
slaves  of  the  present  age  to  disable  the  generation 
that  is  rising  from  discerning  the  truth.  If  we  can, 
the  coming  generation  may  have  sense  and  courage 
enough  to  perceive  that  slaveholding  is  not  the  quint 
essence  of  righteousness. 

Six  of  us  went  over  to  the  Hancock  convention 
from  Concord  :  Joseph  and  Mary  Ann  French,  Parker 
Pillsbury,  Stephen  Foster  and  Caroline  Farrand,  and 
myself.  A  half  day's  ride  through  a  most  benighted 
region,  embracing  Reverend  Moses  Kimball's prevince 
of  Hopkinton,  whose  only  remnant  of  humanity  that 
I  know  of  is  their  tasty  jail,  the  moral  aspect  of  the 
whole  way  contrasting  mournfully  with  the  glorious 
upland  country  and  a  yellow  autumn  day,  brought  us 
to  a  couple  of  anti-slavery  homes,  on  the  Henniker 
highlands,  George  and  Daniel  Cogswell's.  We  were 
welcomed  with  a  heartiness  and  cheer  that  fully  made 
up  for  the  utter  blank  which  stretched  all  the  way 


252  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

from  there  to  Concord.  I  don't  know  of  a  single 
habitation  in  all  that  distance  that  would  have  given 
us  a  human  reception,  had  they  known  us  as  we  were, 
the  mortal  enemies  of  slavery,  and  of  its  patrons,  the 
priesthood.  We  left  the  river  road,  on  the  margin  of 
the  Contoocook,  and  wound  our  way  among  the  hills 
to  the  southward  of  the  beautiful  village  of  Henniker. 
It  brought  us  at  length  into  a  valley  behind  the  high 
ridge  that  overlooks  the  village.  We  ascended  to  the 
summit,  where  stand  the  pleasant  and  comfortable 
dwellings  of  our  two  friends.  Brother  dwellings  they 
are,  near  by  each  other  as  are  the  families,  twin  in 
affection  as  in  kindred.  I  could  hardly  image  to  my 
self  a  more  desirable  location.  Remote,  but  not  lonely, 
the  two  families,  alone,  affording  each  other  abundant 
society.  A  glorious  prospect  stretches  around  them. 
Off  to  the  south,  beyond  the  deep,  narrow  valley,  rose 
high,  wooded  hills,  their  heavy  hard-wood  growth 
touched  gorgeously  with  the  frost- pencil  of  October. 
North,  the  village,  shining  at  their  feet,  with  its 
painted  dwellings  and  green  fields,  deformed  only  by 
a  sectarian  steeple  or  two  and  a  kindred  rum  tavern, 
a  wide  upland  country  swelling  beyond,  rising  in  the 
distance  and  terminating  with  old  Kearsarge,  its  bare 
head  among  the  drifting  clouds. 

After  a  most  pleasant  refreshment,  bodily  and  men 
tal,  with  our  affectionate  friends,  (who  have  not  yet 
cast  off  from  their  association  their  pro-slavery  church 
corporation)  we  resumed  our  ride  for  Hancock,  among 
some  of  the  boldest  inhabited  scenery  I  have  ever 
seen  in  New  Hampshire.  Bold  and  free  as  his  own 
intrepid  spirit,  we  passed  the  farm  on  which  grew  up, 
from  four  years  old,  our  noble  coadjutor  and  veteran 
fellow-laborer,  Parker  Pillsbury.  The  rugged  moun 
tain  homestead  where  he  was  bred  from  early  child 
hood — bred  to  toil  ;  where  he  worked  through  all  his 
young  life,  hard  and  faithfully  as  his  manhood  is  labor 
ing  for  the  slave,  with  almost  as  little  acknowledge 
ment  or  thanks  as  the  world  then  awarded  him,  when 
he  developed  obscurely  among  the  rocks.  We  passed 
the  solitary  school  house  where  he  was  allowed  the 
few  weeks  schooling  of  his  childhood.  But  thanks 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  253 

they  were  so  few.  He  was  educating  all  the  better 
for  humanity's  service  on  that  rugged  farm.  He  there 
taught  himself  to  be  a  MAN.  A  great  lesson  he  had 
effectually  learned  before  he  came  in  contact  with 
seminaries  and  a  priesthood.  These  proved  unequal 
on  that  account,  to  over-match  and  cower  down  his 
homespun  nobility  of  soul.  They  tied  their  fetters 
round  his  manly  limbs,  but  he  snapped  them  as  Samson 
did  the  withes,  and  went  out  an  abolitionist,  carrying 
off  the  very  theological  gates  with  him  upon  his  manly 
shoulders.  He  is  away  from  home  now  ;  gone  on  a 
campaign  into  Rhode  Island,  and  I  will  have  a  word 
about  him.  It  is  due  from  me,  and  has  long  been. 

The  abolitionists  of  the  country  ought  to  know 
Parker  Pillsbury  better  than  they  do.  I  know  him 
for  all  that  is  noble  in  soul,  and  powerful  in  talent  and 
eloquence.  The  remote  district  school  houses  in  New 
Hampshire  and  in  the  granite  old  county  of  Essex, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  was  born,  would  bear  me 
witness  to  all  I  could  say.  He  is  one  of  the  strong 
men  of  our  age.  I  wish  he  oftener  felt  his  own 
strength,  if  he  ever  feels  it  and  would  oftener  put  it 
forth,  when  he  happens  among  the  multitude  audi 
ences  of  the  lowlands,  where  he  is  too  apt  to  keep 
himself  in  the  back  ground.  And  the  abolitionists,  I 
fear,  have  regarded  him  too  much  as  he  regards  him 
self.  He  has  overlooked  himself,  and  they  .have  over 
looked  him.  He  has  undervalued  his  inestimable 
services,  and  the  abolitionists  have  imitated  him  in  it. 
He  has  gone  unpaid — not  that,  it  is  not  the  word  he 
would  allow.  Paid  or  unpaid  are  not  the  words  for 
him,  but  unsustained,  unsupported.  He  has  broken 
down  in  two  or  three  years  by  giant  labor,  a  consti 
tution  of  adamant,  matured  and  hardened  into  iron 
in  the  school  of  his  early  toil.  He  has  broken  it  down 
and  what  has  he  received  in  requital  ?  The  curses  of 
the  priesthood  and  their  vassal  followers,  and  the  for- 
getfulness  of  the  abolitionists.  He  has  been  abroad 
in  the  fields,  and  they  snugly  at  their  homes  ;  he  has 
performed  the  incessant  labor  of  the  galley  slave,  with 
little  better  than  slaves'  fare,  often  times,  and  hardly 
better  than  slaves'  wages.  He  never  complains,  but 


254  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

that  is  no  sign  that  I  should  not.  I  have  neglected 
to  complain  for  him,  as  other  abolitionists  have  given 
cause  for  the  complaint.  It  is  a  shame  that  such  a 
man  as  Parker  Pillsbury  should  be  unappreciated.  I 
know  the  anti-slavejy  cause  is  odious  in  the  commun 
ity  ;  I  know  its  advocates  are  detested,  but  abolition 
ists  should  not  forget  their  field  laborers.  Pillsbury, 
and  Foster,  and  Beach  have  served  and  suffered  in 
this  cause  the  last  two  years  as  hardly  any  of  its  cham 
pions  have  suffered  or  served  ;  and  their  fidelity  has 
had  little  other  effect  upon  abolitionists  than  to  cause 
them  to  shake  their  heads  at  their  daring  temerity. 
Instead  of  pouring  into  the  breach  made  by  them  in 
the  wall,  abolitionists  have,  too  many  of  them,  halted 
and  stood  gazing  to  see  how  it  would  come  out  with 
them,  amid  the  hosts  of  the  enemy  closing  around 
them,  or  else  absolutely  discouraging  their  gallant  ad 
vance.  So  it  is,  and  so  it  is  always  to  be. 

But  I  must  hasten  on  to  Hancock.  Hancock,  a 
revolutionary  name — named  too  for  the  bold  signature 
at  the  head  of  the  brave  old  Declaration,  but  the  abode 
of  a  population  anything  but  akin  in  spirit  to  revolu 
tionary  fathers.  Contented  colonists  and  vassals, 
most  of  them  under  the  bloated  tyranny  of  Archibald 
Burgess,  and  a  subaltern  aristocracy.  We  reached  the 
dwelling  of  our  friends,  the  Boutells,  at  nightfall, 
where  we  were  at  once  at  home  amid  all  that  is  kind 
and  comforting  in  anti-slavery  hospitality. 

We  learned  that  the  old  Orthodox  meeting-house 
had  been  obtained  for  our  meeting,  it  being  so  owned 
that  the  Very  Reverend  Father  Burgess  could  not  by 
his  nod  prevent  our  having  it.  He  had  also  given 
notice  of  the  convention  from  his  pulpit  on  the  Sab 
bath  before,  and  with  all  the  ghostly  importance  of  a 
haughty  friar,  had  warned  the  church  and  congrega 
tion  not  to  attend  it.  He  gave  the  very  sensible  and 
priestly  reason  that  if  they  did  attend,  and  the  meet 
ings  were  mobbed,  /'/  would  be  laid  to  them  !  As  honest 
and  rational  remark  as  commonly  falls  from  a  thick 
headed  priest.  As  if  a  mobbing  could  be  laid  to  those 
who  attended  the  meetings  it  was  breaking  up,  and 
helped  to  bear  the  brunt  and  danger  of  it.  The 
course  of  all  others  that  would  prove  conclusively  to 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  255 

the  abolitionists  that  they  were  not  countenancing  the 
mob,  so  anybody  but  a  soggy  would   perceive.     And 
what  did  he  talk  about  a  mob  for  ?     Had  he  used  his 
influence  to  stir  one  up  ?     His  minions,  when  spoken 
to  about  our  having  the  house,  said  "  Yes,  if  the  aboli 
tionist  will  be  answerable  for  any  damage  done  to  it." 
As  much  as  to  say,  "  If  you  will  pay  for  what  mischief 
we  may  do  to  it,  you  may  have  it."   For  who  but  they  or 
their  children  would  harm   the  house,   or   disturb   the 
meetings  ?     The  creatures  of  friend  Archibald  did  stay 
away,  but  they  sent  their  young  fry  to  mob  the  con 
vention,  by  ringing  the  bell,  by  uncouth  pranks  and 
brute  noises,  by  hurling  stones  along  the   aisles  and 
through    the    windows.      We   picked    up    two    stones 
large  enough  to  cause  instant  death   had   they  struck 
any  of  us   on   the   temple  or  other  dangerous   place. 
They  were  preserved  and  brought  away  as  trophies  of 
the  education  of  the  hopes  of  the  church  in  Hancock, 
and  of  the  godly   preaching  of   the   Reverend  Archi 
bald  Burgess.     He  has  preached  there  a  good  while. 
It  was  his  sacerdotal  pleasure  that  his  old  folks  should 
stay    away    from    the  anti-slavery  meeting,   and    that 
their  nimbler  offspring    should   go    and  do  what  in 
them  lay  to  break  it  up.     And  so  they  did.     The  old 
ones  staid  away  with  commendable  self  denial.   Many 
of  them  doubtless  felt  curious  to   go,  but   they  had  to 
deny    themselves  and  stay  away,  and  friend  Archibald 
ought  to  commend   them   for  it  in  the   pulpit   at   the 
head  of  the  regiment.     Three  days  the  meetings  con 
tinued,    day  times  and   the   evenings  of  two  days,  in 
the  midst  of  a  thick  settled,  populous  village,  and  the 
mass  of  the  population   had  to  stay  at  home  ;  and  the 
meetings  ten  fold  more  interesting  and  more  instruc 
tive  than  any  they  had  ever  had  among  them   of  any 
kind.     They    would    have    thought    so  themselves    if 
they  could  have  been  allowed  to  be  there.     But  they 
were  not.  Archibald  Burgess,  their  priest,  admonished 
them  to  stay  at  home,  and  they  did  not  dare  to  go. 
God  admonished  them  by  their  consciences  to  go,  but 
who  was  the  Lord,  that  they  should  obey  his  voice  ? 
Archibald  Burgess  was  their  Divinity,  their  fat  Idol. 
They  must  worship  him  or  he  would  frown  at  them 


256  ACTS    OF    ANTI:SLAVERV    APOSTLES. 

from  that  awful  pulpit,  on  that  holy  day,  and,  may  be, 
pray  against  them,  so  that  they  would  not  have  pros 
pered  "  in  their  basket  and  store." 

The  godly  children  of  the  church,  rang  that  old 
liberty  bell  till  they  made  it  hoarse,  and  almost  broke 
their  young  mobocratic  backs  with  pulling  the  rope. 
It  annoyed  the  village  more  than  it  did  us,  who  were 
down  under  it  in  the  house.  We  told  them  to  ring  on 
in  welcome.  It  was  a  free  meeting,  and  every  one  of 
them  was  at  liberty  to  take  what  part  in  it  he  chose. 
If  he  had  no  ability  to  speak  against  anti  slavery,  he 
might  ring  the  bell,  or  he  might  sneeze,  or  bark,  or 
throw  stones.  There  A\as  one  pro-slavery  tailor  in 
the  entry  that  had  sneezed  with  great  ability.  I  never 
heard  anybody  that  had  such  talent  at  sneezing.  I 
remembered  hearing  him  sneeze  when  we  were  there  a 
year  ago.  He  sneezed  out  doors  then,  and  he 
was  heard  all  over  the  neighborhood.  Mr.  Burgess 
himself  could  not  have  sneezed  like  him,  I  don't  be 
lieve.  He  came  into  the  meeting,  and  when  any  of 
the  speakers  touched  on  Mr.  Burgess'  connection  with 
man-stealing,  the  tailor  would  sneeze  in  his  defense. 
Others  of  his  defenders  would  bark,  some  whistled, 
others  scraped  the  floor  with  their  hind  feet  ;  one 
came  in  with  a  great  club  in  his  hand  and  marched  up 
to  the  altar,  and,  with  mock  solemnity,  took  a  seat  be 
fore  it.  The  young  mobocrats  "  laffed."  The  aboli 
tionists  took  no  notice  of  him  nor  them.  He  got  sick 
of  sitting  there  and  marched  out.  Then  they  "  laffed  " 
out  again.  By  and  by  he  came  in  again  and  marched 
up  into  the  pulpit.  That  was  a  killing  manoeuvre. 
They  did  "  laff  "  "  like  all  possessed."  We  thought  it 
was  the  very  place  for  the  poor  fellow,  and  that  he 
became  it  quite  as  well  as  their  lubberly  priest.  He 
began  to  preach  up  there.  Foster  was  speaking  at 
the  time,  but  gave  way  for  him.  He  talked  away  and 
could  not  help  saying  some  good  things.  One  of  the 
young  religious  gentry  present  interrupted  him,  for 
things  did  not  seem  to  be  working  just  right  for  the 
opposition.  Pillsbury  requested  that  the  speaker  be 
not  interrupted,  and  said  he  had  spoken  more  im 
portant  truth,  he  would  be  bound  to  say,  than  had 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES.  257 

been  spoken  in  that  pulpit  in  two  years.  It  was  so 
apt  a  remark,  and,  with  all,  so  confounded  true,  that 
the  whole  monocracy  cheered  it  with  a  peal  of  applause. 
They  could  not  help  it.  They  forgot  for  the  instant 
the  errand  they  were  sent  on,  and  gave  a  volley  of 
spontaneous  and  hearty  cheers.  After  that  they  were 
glad  for  a  while  to  be  still.  But  Foster  roused  them 
again  by  his  terrible  invective.  He  displayed  Burgess 
in  such  condemning  light  as  one  of  the  great  brother 
hood  of  thieves  anti  patrons  of  robbery  and  adultery 
in  the  slave  system,  that  they  could  not  bear  it,  and 
began  again  to  show  their  religious  rage.  Several 
large  stones  were  hurled  in  at  the  front  door,  and 
went  tumbling  up  the  broad  aisle  to  the  foot  of  the 
pulpit.  They  were  big  enough  to  have  broken  the 
legs  of  anybody  who  might  have  stood  there.  By  and 
by  smash  went  the  glass,  and  in  at  the  side  windows 
came  the  stones,  glass  rattling  and  stones  bounding 
against  the  pew  doors.  Real  clerical  argumentation. 
Truly  religious  weapons  of  defense  for  the  church  and 
minister. 

This  was  in  the  evening.  The  academy  students 
had  poured  in,  in  considerable  numbers.  There  are 
two  seminaries  close  by  the  meeting-house.  A  Con 
gregational  academy  and  a  Baptist,  where  Baptist 
larniri  and  orthodox  larnin  are  severally  taught. 
Dipped  arithmetic  and  grammar  at  one,  and  sprinkled 
at  the  other.  With  whatever  intent  the  students  came 
in  at 'first,  the  chief  of  them,  after  hearing  awhile  what 
was  said  and  done  on  both  sides,  manfully  moved  into 
the  center  of  the  house,  away  from  the  mob  at  and 
near  the  doors,  so  as  to  separate  themselves  from  it 
and  identify  themselves  with  the  meeting.  Some  of 
them  spoke  and  protested  against  the  conduct  of  the 
mob,  and  behaved  very  honorably,  and  received  the 
commendation  of  the  convention.  And  I  would  here 
add  that,  if  those  young  men  were  out  from  under 
this  priestly  control,  they  would  most  of  them  be 
abolitionists,  and  make  free  and  noble  men.  And 
they  will  not  be  such  slaves  as  their  fathers.  Their 
young  breasts  will  inhale  the  reviving  and  disenthral 
ing  atmosphere  our  reform  is  generating  around  them, 


258  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

and  it  cannot  fail  to  give  them  more  or  less  of  free 
dom.  Saturday  morning  there  was  hesitation  about 
letting  us  have  the  key.  It  seemed  to  be  feared  that 
an  impression  was  making  in  the  meetings,  dangerous 
to  the  church  and  the  minister,  although  both  staid 
away  and  kept  most  of  the  people  away.  Those 
young  students  would  go  in,  and  no  knowing  what 
effect  it  might  have  upon  them.  It  was  some  time 
before  the  house  could  be  got  open,  and  shelter  from 
a  falling  rain  was  obtained  in  sheds  or  where  else  it 
might  be.  No  mobbing  on  Saturday,  save  ringing 
the  bell.  One  young  student  ventured  up  into  the 
pulpit,  to  show  his  "gimp."  He  had  not  witnessed 
the  experiment  there,  probably,  of  the  night  before. 
The  audience  were  reminded,  in  his  hearing,  of  their 
entire  freedom  to  say  and  do  what  they  severally 
pleased,  but  on  their  own  responsibilities.  If  they 
wanted  to  mount  up  into  the  pulpit,  to  play  the  fool, 
or  for  whatever  purpose,  it  must  be  on  their  own  ac 
count.  The  convention  would  not  be  responsible. 
And  if  any  of  them  wanted  to  play  the  buffoon,  or 
mobocrat,  the  pulpit  was  a  fit  place  to  perform  in  as 
any  other.  Every  one  to  his  taste.  Pro-slavery  was 
very  partial  to  the  pulpit,  and  the  pulpit  was  open  to 
it  on  that  occasion,  as  every  other  part  of  the  house. 
They  might  whistle,  or  they  might  behave  quietly 
and  kindly,  as  they  would  be  done  by.  They  might 
speak,  or  they  might  bark  and  play  the  quadruped,  or 
they  might  sneeze,  as  their  champion  had  done  the 
night  before,  or  hurl  stones  through  the  windows, 
only  it  would  all  have  to  be  done  on  their  own  ac 
count,  and  not  on  ours.  Several  of  the  students  did 
speak  ;  some,  who  seemed  to  be  dieting  for  the  minis 
try,  spoke  cant  and  absurdity.  One  young  man, 
Marshall,  of  Nashua,  quite  young,  spoke  very  man 
fully,  and  with  candor  and  ability.  If  he  follows  out 
his  heart,  he  will  be  an  abolitionist  and  make  an  able 
advocate.  A  young  Mr.  Chamberlain  canted  and 
cavilled.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  religion,  and 
greatly  wounded  at  our  treatment  of  the  virtuous  and 
philanthropic  folks,  who,  as  we  said,  were  instigating 
what  their  children  had  been  doing  to  break  up  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  259 

meeting,  and  who  had  kept  the  people  from  attend 
ing  it.  Mr.  Student  Bonner  was  quite  loud  and  vehe 
ment  in  defence  of  "  our  church  and  clergy."  He 
was  not  in  favor  of  slavery,  but  he  wanted  the  blacks 
sent  to  Africa  if  they  were  liberated.  They  did  not 
belong  to  this  country,  and  had  no  rights  here.  Stu 
dent  Bonner,  by  the  way,  belongs  to  Canada.  He 
said  they  did  not  help  carry  on  the  revolution. 
He  denied  that  liberty  would  do  the  slaves  any 
good.  He  denied  that  slave-holding  was  man-steal 
ing,  or  criminal.  Foster  had  declared  that  it  was  ; 
Bonner  rose  and  denied  it.  Foster  bade  the  audience 
beware  of  that  young  man  ;  he  would  put  the  com 
munity  on  its  guard  against  him.  He  had  denied 
that  stealing  children  and  enslaving  them  was  sinful. 
That  young  man,  he  said,  was  dangerous  in  commun 
ity  with  such  notions.  He  bade  those  who  had  prop 
erty  exposed  to  beware  of  him.  He  had  avowed  the 
principles  of  a  thief :  the  young  fellow  had  been 
exceedingly  impudent  in  his  remarks  upon  the  aboli 
tionists,  saying  everything  offensive  and  abusive,  he 
well  could  ;  specifying  nothing,  attempting  to  prove 
nothing,  and  well  deserved  Foster's  severity.  Whether 
there  was  any  peculiar  pertinency  in  the  application 
of  the  word  thief,  more  than  Foster  knew  of,  Conner's 
acquaintances  can  say.  Another  young  gentleman 
student  was  highly  scandalized  at  "the  abuse  heaped 
on  the  clergy  and  Mr.  Burgess."  He  was  young,  but 
could  not  refrain,  when  sacred  things  were  thus 
attacked.  Foster  might  speak  here,  he  said,  but  if  he 
were  to  go  into  yonder  house,  (where  Burgess  was  to 
speak  on  Sunday,)  he  would  be  among  those  who 
would  lay  hold  on  him  and  drag  him  out. 

The  students,  however,  behaved  very  well  in  the 
main  ;  some  of  them  exceedingly  well,  considering 
the  pro-slavery  influence  with  which  they  stood  con 
nected.  They  did  not  talk  with  much  good  sense  ; 
they  spoke  like  student's  ;  had  they  been  free,  unsoph 
isticated  youth,  uninfected  by  the  schools  and  the 
meeting-house,  they  would  have  gone  en*  masse  for 
the  meeting,  and  borne  a  generous  testimony  in  its 
favor.  Pillsbury  told  them  very  impressively  the 


260  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

obligations  they  were  under  to  the  meeting.  It  was 
at  the  first  meeting,  he  admonished  them,  where  their 
right  of  free  speech  had  ever  been  recognized.  They 
were  called  and  reckoned  boys,  by  other  meetings  of 
the  day,  and  would  not  be  allowed  to  speak  on  equal 
terms  in  any  of  them.  Here  they  were  not  boys,  but 
men.  What  would  have  been  their  reception,  he 
asked,  in  an  association  of  ministers,  had  they  ven 
tured  to  speak  as  they  were  free  to  speak  here  ?  He 
asked  them  to  appreciate  it.  He  told  them  they  were 
not  boys  ;  they  had  rights  and  responsibilities  ;  and 
he  warned  them  how  they  used  them.  That  should 
be  a  memorable  day  to  them,  he  said,  when  in  a  con 
vention  of  men  and  women,  their  equal  right  of  free 
speech  was  for  the  first  time  recognized  and  asserted 
for  them,  even  by  those  to  whose  objects  they  were 
not  friendly.  Asserted,  not  for  this  meeting  only,  but 
for  all  meetings  of  a  public  and  proper  character.  He 
told  them  they  had  right  to  speak  everywhere  for 
themselves  ;  as  good  right  as  any  number  of  years 
could  ever  confer  upon  them.  He  told  them  of  the 
part  they  might  act  for  God  and  humanity,  if  they 
would  only  use  their  talents  and  act  up  to  their  con 
science  and  their  convictions. 

Sunday  was  devoted  to  the  Scriptural  evidences  of 
the  sacred  institutions.  The  clergy  are  wielding  to 
overawe  and  put  down  the  anti-slavery  movement, 
the  Sabbath,  the  clerical  order,  the  dedicated  temple 
and  the  meeting-house  worship,  to  which  anti-slavery 
as  well  as  every  other  moral  reform,  is  obliged  to  give 
way.  All  these  were  freely  and  faithfully  discussed 
in  the  light  of  Christianity,  and  were  all  shown  from 
abundant  scriptural  authority  and  evidence  to  be  un 
warranted  by  the  gospel  and  forbidden  by  its  great 
Teacher.  If  the  people  had  been  there  and  dared  to 
hear  impartially,  enough  was  said  to  convince  them 
all.  Had  the  priesthood  human  ears  and  common 
mortal  understanding,  it  would  have  saved  them  from 
their  diabolical  delusions  to  have  been  there  and  heard, 
if  truth  can  save  them.  But  the  people  were  only  few 
of  them  there.  The  clergy  would  not  let  them  come. 
The  clergy  were  not  there.  The  two  belonging  to 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  261 

that  neighborhood  were  absent.  They  did  not  dare 
to  be  there.  They  would  as  soon  resign  their  licenses 
as  meet  the  abolitionists  in  presence  of  the  people  on 
the  meeting-house  floor. 

Now,  I  appeal  to  the  people  if  they  themselves 
ought  not  to  have  attended  the  convention.  Subjects 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  them  were  those  to  be 
discussed,  and  in  a  perfectly  free  meeting.  They  had 
full  and  equal  liberty  to  speak  as  well  as  to  hear. 
Men  and  women  were  to  discuss  those  subjects  whom 
the  community  had  no  reason  to  doubt  were  compe 
tent  to  a  sensible  and  profitable  examination  of  them. 
They  ought  to  have  been  there.  They  would  have 
been  if  they  had  been  free.  They  would  have  been 
had  they  not  been  slaves. 

And  the  two  clergymen  ought  to  have  been  there. 
Burgess  should  have  given  notice  of  the  meeting  and 
exhorted  the  people  to  go  and  hear  for  themselves. 
If  the  meeting  was  free  and  open  to  reply  as  well  as 
to  abolitionist,  and  he  knew  it  would  be,  he  surely 
should  have  been  there  himself,  and  advised  others  to 
be  there.  If  we  were  propagating  errors,  he  knew  the 
place  to  put  us  down  was  in  our  own  meetings.  If 
we  were  wrong  he  was  the  man  learned  and  faithful 
enough  to  put  us  all  right.  He  would  put  us  right 
for  our  sakes  as  well  as  for  other  people.  Why  not  ? 
Suppose  we  did  not  reverence  him.  We  complain  of 
him  that  he  wants  reverence.  Will  he  prove  it  by 
refraining  to  meet  us  because  we  won't  render  it  to 
him  ?  He  pretends  to  regard  us  as  wolves,  while  he 
professes  to  be  a  shepherd.  What  is  the  duty  of  a 
shepherd  when  the  wolf  cometh  ?  To  flee  and  hide 
himself  ?  "  The  hireling  fleeth  because,"  etc.,  but  the 
true  shepherd  never.  If  we  were  wolves,  Shepherd 
Burgess  was  afraid  of  us.  If  he  is  a  wolf  in  sheep's 
clothing,  he  had  good  reason  to  fear  us. 

But  the  clergy  can't  always  keep  us  from  the  peo 
ple.  By  the  blessing  of  God,  anti-slavery  will  yet 
deliver  the  people  of  this  clergy.  They  may  as  well 
let  us  have  a  hearing  first  as  last.  They  may  as  well 
meet  us.  They  must  meet  us  before  the  people,  or 
the  people  shall  at  length  know  the  reason  why  they 


262  ACTS    OK    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES. 

do  not  meet  us.  This  skirmishing  and  dodging  will  not 
always  avail  them.  A  hand-to-hand  conflict  must  by 
and  by  come,  and  under  circumstances  most  unauspi- 
cious  to  the  clergy.  They  will  utterly  dishonor  and  dis 
credit  themselves  before  the  world  by  their  behavior  in 
avoiding  the  contest.  We  are  right,  and  they  shall 
meet  us,  or  we  will  fall  upon  them  at  their  very  altars, 
and  take  hold  of  their  horns  as  Benaiah  did  upon 
Joab.  Foster  and  Beach,  Brown  and  Allen,  are  al 
ready  scaling  the  walls  of  their  sanctuaries.  Others 
will  follow.  The  pulpit  is  "coward's  castle,"  but  it  is 
being  stormed  and  it  will  be  taken.  If  the  clergy  will 
hide  there  and  by  spells  and  sorcery  prevent  the  peo 
ple  from  hearing  the  cry  of  outraged  humanity,  its 
advocates  will  point  their  cannon  at  the  sacred 
order,  and  never  cease  battering  till  it  tumbles  to 
the  ground. 

Our  convention  terminated  on  Sunday  afternoon, 
near  night.  *  There  was  throughout  a  goodly,  but  not 
full  attendance.  All  the  humanity  of  the  place  was 
there.  There  was  a  lack  of  attendance  on  the  part 
of  abolitionists  from  the  surrounding  region.  Why 
are  they  not  awake  ?  When  liberty  lies  bound,  lacer 
ated  and  bleeding  on  southern  plantations,  and  her 
advocates  here  in  New  England  are  imprisoned  for 
pleading  her  deliverance,  is  it  time  to  stay  at  home 
for  ordinary  cause  ?  Would  they  stay,  at  home  if  a 
brother  or  sister  or  a  wife  were  a  slave,  or  if  a  hus 
band  were  shut  up  in  a  loathsome  cell  at  Newburyport, 
only  for  liberty  of  speech  ? 

I  must  not  forget  in  this  hurried  sketch,  Foster's 
preaching  at  the  threshold  of  Burgess'  synagogue,  on 
Sunday  noon.  He  entered  it  in  the  forenoon,  not  to 
speak,  but  to  appal,  as  I  suppose,  that  haughty  hire 
ling  by  his  presence.  And  it  made  him  turn  pale 
with  coward  apprehension.  He  feared  Foster  would 
open  his  mouth  to  speak.  He  knew  he  could  oppose 
nothing  to  his  powerful  word  but  brute,  ruffian,  raga 
muffin  force.  He  trembled  to  be  driven  to  it  before 
his  parish.  Wicked  man  !  Why  does  he  not  give 
liberty  of  speech?  Can  he  not  defend  himself? 
Foster  is  an  able  man,  but  I  am  not  afraid  of  him 


ACTS    OF    ANTI- SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  263 

where  he  is  wrong.  Why  should  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Burgess  be?  Has  he  no  tongue  to  defend  himself, 
and  in  the  midst  of  his  own  people  ? 

Foster  spoke  over  half  an  hour,  out  on  the  com 
mon  before  the  synagogue,  at  intermission,  and  with 
great  power.  The  people  heard  him.  Burgess  was 
within,  like  Putnam's  wolf,  but  did  not  dare  to  come 
out.  He  must  have  heard  Foster's  voice,  and  prob 
ably  ordered  the  few  that  were  with  him  to  set  up  a 
tune,  for  they  did,  the  cowards  !  They  did  not  dare 
to  listen  to  the  truth,  so  they  sang  a  psalm.  They 
were  "not  merry"  and  so  they  sang  psalms.  They 
were  scared  at  the  truth,  and  so  they  sang  to  drown 
it.  Some  of  the  leading  subalterns  of  the  priest  at 
length  returned  from  their  home  to  the  meeting. 
They  were  filled  with  rage  when  they  came  within 
sound  of  Foster's  voice.  They  howled  like  very 
fiends.  One  of  them,  mighty  well  dressed  and  re- 
spectabje  looking,  said  :  "  The  damned  creatnre  is 
crazy;  what  is  he  here  for?  "  If  he  is  crazy,"  cried 
another,  "he  ought  to  be  kicked  off  the  ground." 
"Takeaway  your  minister,"  said  one  of  the  select 
men  to  our  friend,  David  Wood,  "  or  I  will  have  a  con 
stable  here  to  take  care  of  him."  But  Foster  was  on 
the  common,  and  it  was  intermission  time,  to  boot. 
"  I  do  not  keep  a  minister,"  replied  our  friend  Wood. 
"Foster  is  his  own  minister,  not  mine." 

We  had  no  officers  in  our  convention,  no  president, 
no  secretary,  no  business  committee,  no  resolves  passed. 
The  question  of  president  was  fully  discussed,  and 
officers  dispensed  with  unanimously.  There  was  no 
vote  of  invitation  to  all  persons  present  to  participate. 
We  were  an  open  human  meeting.  We  were  met  to 
promote  humanity.  And  we  declared  everybody  had, 
of  course,  a  right  to  speak  and  act  in  our  meeting, 
for  it  was  everybody's  meeting.  Our  harmony  was 
perfect.  Even  the  mobocracy  was  subdued  and 
brought  to  order  by  the  overpowering  influence  of 
liberty. 

The  foregoing  may  seem  to  young  readers  a  narra 
tive  too  long  drawn  out.  But  it  conveys  only  a  faint 
idea  of  the  scenes  witnessed  and  encountered  there. 


264  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

And  not  only  there,  but  in  hundreds  of  towns  besides.. 
And  the  mob  spirit  there  manifested  was  mildness  it 
self  compared  with  many  other  places  east  and  west. 
When  the  clerical  or  political  party  leaders  saw  that 
we  were  determined  the  cause  of  the  slave  should 
be  presented  to  the  people,  they  felt  safe  in  setting  the 
mob  on  us  at  any  time,  knowing  that  we  were  non- 
resistants  in  every  encounter.  At  Hancock,  when  the 
volley  of  stones  came  crashing  in  at  the  windows 
among  the  people,  the  women  kept  quiet,  but  a  man 
cried  out,  "  Let's  adjourn  ;  let's  adjourn."  Happening 
to  be  speaking  at  the  moment,  I  raised  my  voice  so  as 
to  be  heard  in  the  confusion  and  asked  ;  Did  your 
fathers  adjourn  at  Bunker  Hill  when  fired  upon  by  the 
enemies  of  freedom  ?  The  effect  was  as  sudden  as  sat 
isfactory,  and  the  silence  and  order  continued  to  the 
close  of  the  session.  The  poor  fellow  with  \.\\tshilalah 
in  the  pulpit  had  been  drinking,  but  he  rose  and  made 
a  few  very  sensible  remarks,  rebuking  severely  the 
disturbers,  which  we  applauded,  and  that  rather  won 
him  to  our  side.  I  had  often  by  strategy  captured  the 
champion  of  rioters  whom  they  had  crazed  with  liquor 
and  put  forward  to  annoy  me  so  as  to  break  up  the 
meeting  if  possible.  Sometimes  I  would  invite  him 
to  a  friendly  discussion  and  take  him  to  the  platform 
and  propose  that  I  would  speak  half  an  hour  and  he 
take  notes  and  reply  as  he  saw  might  be  needed.  I 
would  furnish  paper  and  pencil  and  proceed.  The 
plan  would  not  always  succeed  ;  neither  did  it  always 
fail  of  the  desired  result.  I  well  recollect  such  an  oc 
currence  one  terrible  night  in  Vermont.  The  moon 
was  bright  as  silver,  but  the  mercury  was  much  below 
zero.  I  should  have  held  my  man  and  the  audience 
had  not  the  rioters  began  pelting  their  champion  at 
the  table  with  paper  pellets,  tobacco  quids  and  similar 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  265 

arguments,  doubtless  the  best  they  had  to  offer.  He 
soon  kindled  into  rage  against  them,  and  I  think 
would  have  died  then  in  my  defense  had  it  been 
necessary.  I  was  able  to  continue  speaking  in  the 
confusion  till  the  disturbing  element  was  shamed  into 
comparative  silence,  and  then  closed  the  meeting. 
This  was  unexpected,  and  some  of  the  most  violent 
begged  me  to  proceed,  promising  the  best  of  order 
and  behavior  to  the  end.  But  I  declined,  telling  them 
I  had  captured  their  champion  and  proved  him  the 
most  decent  man  of  them  all,  and  now  they  might 
have  the  responsibility  of  breaking  up  a  free  meeting 
where  they  would  have  been  welcome  to  half  the 
time. 

The  Hancock  convention  had  no  presiding  nor 
other  officers,  and  so  was  a  gathering  after  Mr.  Rog- 
ers's  own  heart,  as  his  graphic  but  eminently  just  and 
truthful  description  shows. 

While  on  Hillsborough  county  it  may  be  opportune 
to  report  one  more  meeting  held  or  attempted  by  Mr. 
Foster  alone.  It  was  in  the  town  of  Nashua,  where 
anti-slavery  never  had  rapid  nor  healthy  growth.  The 
people  not  coming  to  Mr.  Foster  he  felt  called  on  to 
go  to  them.  It  need  not  be  told  again  that  he  differed 
at  that  time  from  most  of  his  fellow  Christians  in 
modes  of  worship.  He  believed  devoutly  that  in  all 
Christian  assemblies  there  should  be  freedom  of  utter 
ance,  whether  by  prayer,  speaking,  or  song,  as  was 
both  preached  and  practiced  by  Christ  and  the  early 
apostles.  But  into  whatever  religious  assembly  he 
entered,  his  manner  was  always  decent  and  respectful, 
and  whether  he  spoke  or  prayed,  his  tones  of  voice 
were  remarkably  solemn  and  impressive.  But  I  am 
sure  he  never  once  interrupted  any  religious  services, 
except  in  places  where  political  leaders  and  religious 


266  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

teachers  had  used  all  their  influence  and  authority  to 
keep  the  people  from  attending  his  meetings,  which 
were  always  supereminently  free. 

Mr.  Foster's  own  account  of  the  affair  will  best 
describe  it,  and  as  it  was  written  in  a  prison  into 
which  his  faithfulness  brought  him,  it  will  be  all  the 
more  interesting.  A  part  only  of  his  letter  will  here 
be  given.  It  was  dated, 

AMHERST  JAIL,  May  7,  1842. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER  ROGERS — Under  the  superin 
tending  providence  of  Him  by  whose  permission, 
Joseph  was  cast  into  prison  in  Egypt,  and  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  was  incarcerated  in  a  loathsome  dungeon, 
and  Jesus  Christ  scourged,  spit  upon,  and  nailed  to 
the  cross,  I  have  been  given  up  into  the  power  of  my 
enemies,  arrested  and  confined  within  the  walls  of  a 
loathsome  cell.  But  though  captured,  I  am  not  con 
quered  ;  nay,  I  am  a  conquerer.  My  body  is  indeed 
incased  in  granite  and  iron,  but  I  was  never  more  free 
than  at  this  moment  ;  I  have  at  length  triumphed 
over  every  foe  ;  I  have  achieved  this  victory  by  con 
quering  my  own  servile  slavish  fear  of  man,  and  all 
the  instruments  of  torture  and  death,  which  his  mali 
cious  passions  have  invented.  I 
was  a  slave.  I  am  a  slave  no  longer.  My  lips  have 
been  sealed  by  man.  They  will  never  be  again,  till 
sealed  in  death.  My  body  is  freely  yielded  to  the 
persecutors  to  torture  at  pleasure.  But  my  spirit  must 
and  shall  be  free.  Equal,  unrestricted  liberty  of 
speech  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  is  my  birthright. 
It  is  the  gift  of  God  to  every  member  of  the  family  of 
man,  and  I  will  defend  it  in  the  face  of  prison  and  of 
death.  You,  brother  Rogers,  and 
the  rest  of  my  anti-slavery  coadjutors  may  turn  your 
backs  upon  our  synagogues,  or  sit  silent  spectators  of 
their  hypocritical  worship,  while  the  dying  wail  of 
millions  of  your  countrymen  is  borne  to  your  ears  on 
every  southern  breeze — if  you  can.  I  cannot.  I  will 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  267 

not.  So  long  as  the  soil  of  America  is  polluted  by  the 
footprints  of  slavery,  I  will  speak  in  behalf  of  the 
victim,  wherever  I  can  reach  a  human  ear. 

*  My  countrymen  are  pirates.  They 
legalize  the  sale  and  enslavement  of  their  own  "free 
and  equal"  brethren.  They  authorize  their  transpor 
tation  to  distant  ports  to  be  sold  into  perpetual  slavery. 
I  scorn  the  friendship  of  such  a  people  ;  it  is  enmity 
against  God.  My  enemies  never 

made  greater  blunder  than  when  they  sent  me  to  this 
gloomy  prison.  It  is  an  honor  1  did  not  expect  ;  one 
I  feared  I  might  never  merit. 

As  your  readers  may  wish  to  know  the  circum 
stances  under  which  I  came  to  this  place,  I  will  relate 
them,  with  such  accuracy  as  can  be  done  from  mem 
ory,  though  there  is  not  time  for  detail. 

Last  Saturday  1  visited  Nashua,  with  the  intention 
of  giving  a  course  of  anti-slavery  lectures,  similar  to 
those  I  have  recently  given  at  Dover,  Exeter,  and  Som- 
ersworth.  On  my  arrival,  application  was  made  for 
a  house  suitable  to  my  purpose,  but  no  such  place 
could  be  obtained.  The  meeting-houses  were  refused, 
for  no  valid  reason,  except  the  Universalist,  which 
was  engaged  for  a  course  of  scientific  lectures.  I 
called  on  Rev.  D.  D.  Pratt,  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
church,  and  requested  permission  to  address  his  con 
gregation  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  the  next  clay. 
Mr.  Pratt  refused  my  request,  and  remarked  that  he 
felt  himself  compelled  to  decide  what  was  best  for  his 
people,  and  that  he  would  send  for  me  when  he  wanted 
my  help.  I  then  called  on  the  Congregationalist  min 
isters,  Mr.  Richards  and  Mr.  McGee,  for  similar  pur 
pose,  but  with  no  better  success. 

On  Saturday  evening,  I  attended  a  meeting  at  Mr. 
Richards'  vestry,  and  spoke  twenty  minutes  or  more 
to  an  attentive  audience,  most  of  whom  I  presumed 
were  members  of  the  church.  On  Sunday  morning, 
after  mature  reflection  and  fervent  prayer  to  God 
for  divine  guidance,  I  visited  the  Baptist  meeting 
house  for  the  purpose  of  occupying  some  portion  of 
the  day  in  advocating  the  claims  of  that  part  of 
our  countrymen  who  are  held  in  slavery  by  the  minis- 


268  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  ' 

ters  and  members  of  the  Baptist  church.  In  doing- 
so,  I  acted  in  good  faith  to  the  assembly  I  met. 
They  said  that  place  was  the  house  of  God,  and  I 
took  them  at  their  word  and  claimed  in  it  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  a  child  of  God.  They  said  their  as 
sembly  was  a  Christian  meeting,  and  I  knew  if  it  was, 
it  would  recognize  and  respect  the  equal  right  of  all 
to  speak,  or  "to  prophesy  one  by  one."  They  said 
Christ  was  their  Lord  and  Master,  and  I  knew  if  they 
were  followers  of  his,  I  should  be  in  no  danger  of  be 
ing  thrust  from  their  house.  For  when  was  it  ever 
told  of  "the  Prince  of  Peace  "  that  he  was  seen  run 
ning  out  ot  the  synagogue  with  a  Pharisee  on  his 
back?  Or  when  did  he  privately  instruct  Deacon  An 
drew  or  Rev.  Simon  Peter  to  drag  out  the  spies  that 
he.  foreknew  would  come  into  the  temple  "  to  entangle 
him  in  his  talk,"  feigning  themselves  iustmen?  They 
said  they  were  the  sheep  of  Christ's  flock,  sent  forth 
by  their  divine  shepherd  into  the  midst  of  wolves,  of 
which  I  was  one,  and  I  knew  if  such  were  the  fact, 
I  was  in  no  danger  of  being  devoured  by  them,  or 
dragged  from  their  fold  ;  for  when  was  it  ever  heard 
of  sheep  that  they  had  devoured  a  wolf,  or  ferociously 
seized  upon  him  and  hurled  him  from  their  pen? 
They  said  Jesus  had  commanded  them  to  "be  wise  as 
serpents  and  harmless  as  doves,"  and  I  knew  if  they 
followed  such  directions,  they  would  look  to  God 
for  protection,  and  not  to  a  wicked  Universalist  ;  and 
would  seek  to  conquer  their  enemies  by  the  power  of 
love,  and  not  by  the  terrors  of  the  avenging  sword. 
They  claimed  to  be  Christians,  and  I  knew  that  among 
such,  it  would  be  perfectly  safe  for  me  to  give  utter 
ance  to  my  sympathies  for  God's  perishing  poor. 

I  rose  for  that  purpose,  but  was  immediately  inter 
rupted  by  Mr.  Pratt,  who  said  he  wished  to  commence 
the  regular  exercises.  I  did  not  notice  this  interrup 
tion,  and  was  proceeding  with  mv  remarks,  when  sud 
denly  Deacon  Chase  pounced  upon  my  back  and  held 
me  fast  in  his  talons.  We  did  not  have  a  regular  fight, 
like  some  which  have  recently  disgraced  the  halls  of 
congress,  for  the  one  only  reason,  that  I  declined  a 
combat  with  the  reverend  ambassador  of  Christ  and 


ACTS    OP"    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  269 

his  devout  deacon.  I  would  not  assert  that  Rev.  Mr. 
Pratt  would  have  fought  in  person,  had  I  stood  upon 
my  rights.  He  might  have  thought  that  too  undig 
nified.  He  would  doubtless  have  contented  him 
self  with  aiding  and  abetting  the  arfray,  by  giving 
it  his  countenance  and  approval,  as  he  did  my  subse 
quent  ejection  from  the  house.  After  being  dragged 
from  the  platform  by  the  deacon,  I  was  carried  into 
the  street  by  three  or  four  rnen,  whose  names  were  not 
given.  I  inquired  of  the  deacon,  who  still  had  me  in 
his  talons,  if  I  was  his  prisoner.  He  replied  that  I 
was  not,  and  let  go  his  grasp.  I  then  turned  to  go 
into  the  house,  but  was  arrested  by  the  deacon  and 
his  associates.  A  messenger  was  immediately  dis 
patched  to  the  Universalist  meeting-house,  in  search 
of  one  of  those  "ministers  of  God,  who  bear  not  the 
sword  in  vain."  The  messenger  soon  returned,  ac 
companied  by  Constable  Gillis,  by  whom,  with  the  as 
sistance  of  Deacon  Chase,  I  was  pulled  by  the  arms 
and  collar  a  distance  of  fifteen  rods  or  more,  to  a  rum 
tavern,  and  thrown  on  the  bar-room  floor.  Soon 
after,  I  was  seized  and  dragged  up  two  flights  of  stairs 
and  thrown  upon  the  floor  of  a  small  upper  chamber, 
and  subsequently  delivered  into  the  custody  of  two 
keepers. 

Having  secured  me  in  this  temporary  prison,  the 
deacon  returned  to  his  meeting,  to  tender  to  the 
church  the  emblems  of  the  body  and  blood  of  "the 
Prince  of  Peace."  I  was  arrested,  as  the  constable 
informed  me,  on  complaint  of  Deacon  Edwin  Chase, 
Deacon  David  Philbrook,  Norman  Fuller,  and  another 
member  of  the  church,  whose  name  I  have  lost. 

During  the  afternoon,  Brother  Preble,  a  Free-will 
Baptist  minister,  came  into  my  prison  and  asked  the 
constable,  who  was  then  present,  to  accompany  me  to 
Thayer's  hall,  at  five  o'clock,  to  fulfill  an  appointment 
made  for  me  at  that  place.  This  he  declined  doing, 
but  said  he  would  release  me  for  that  purpose,  on  con 
dition  that  Brother  Preble  and  certain  others  would 
be  responsible  for  my  return,  provided  he  could  ob 
tain  consent  of  the  complainants.  Their  consent  to 
this  was  asked,  but  denied !  During  the  evening,  one 


270  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

of  my  keepers  left.  The  other  remained  through  the 
night,  and  slept  with  his  clothes  on,  the  door  locked 
and  the  lamp  burning.  Indeed,  I  was  as  strictly 
guarded  as  though  I  had  been  a  felon,  waiting  only  an 
opportunity  to  escape. 

At  ten  o'clock,  on  Monday  morning,  I  was  put  on 
trial  before  Israel  Hunt.  The  complaint  set  forth 
that  I  had  entered  the  Baptist  meeting-house,  "with 
force  and  arms,"  and  disturbed  the  meeting  by  mak 
ing  a  noise,  by  rude  and  indecent  behavior,  etc.,  etc. 
The  principal  witnesses  against  me  were  Rev.  Dura  D. 
Pratt,  and  Deacon  Edwin  Chase.  As  a  precaution, 
Mr.  Hunt  required  them  to  swear  by  the  living  God, 
that  they  would  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and 
nothing  but  the  truth,  relative  to  the  case  under  trial. 
But  instead  of  so  doing,  both  of  them  kept  back  a  part 
of  it,  as  did  Annanias  and  Sapphira  a  part  of  their 
possessions,  and,  what  was  quite  as  unchristian,  testi 
fied  to  what  was  palpably  false,  and  what  I  think  they 
must  have  known  was  false.  None  present  could  fail 
to  remark  that  their  memory  was  all  on  one  side.  Mr. 
Pratt  testified  that  I  treated  him  "  ungentlemanly." 
On  being  asked  what  I  said  or  did  that  was  ungentle- 
manly,  he  could  not  recollect,  he  said,  then,  but  he  was 
certain,  very,  that  I  treated  him  ungentlemanly.  His 
answers  to  my  questions  on  the  point  reminded  me  of 
the  lines  I  have  seen,  but  cannot  now  recall  where  : 

11  I  do  not  like  thee,  Dr.  Fell  ; 

The  reason  why  I  cannot  tell  ; 
But  this  I  do  know,  very  well, 
I  do  not  like  thee,  Dr.  Fell." 

So  with  the  reverend  gentleman.  He  knew  full  well 
that  I  treated  him  "ungentlemanly,"  but  wherein 
he  could  not  tell.  But  finally,  being  pressed  on  that 
point,  he  testified  that  I  told  him  1  would  preach  to 
his  people  whether  he  was  willing  or  not.  This,  in 
his  opinion,  was  ungentlemanly.  Well,  admitting 
that  it  would  have  been,  it  so  happened  that  I  did 
not  say  it,  as  brother  Preble,  who  was  present,  will 
testify.  But  I  did  say  to  Mr.  Pratt  that  I  had  come 
to  Nashua  to  obtain  a  hearing  in  behalf  of  my  en- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  2/1 

slaved  countrymen,  and  that,  if  access  to  the  public 
ear  through  the  ordinary  channels  was  denied  me,  I 
should  seek  a  channel  of  my  own. 

As  I  do  not  acknowledge  allegiance  to  any  human 
power,  I  made  no  defence.  I  asked  the  witnesses 
some  questions,  and  said  a  few  words,  but  they  were 
designed  to  influence  the  audience  present,  rather 
than  the  decision  of  Mr.  Hunt.  In  that,  I  felt  no 
interest.  My  only  object  was  to  expose  the  wicked 
ness  and  hypocrisy  of  Dura  D.  Pratt  and  the  majority 
of  his  church,  that  they  might  no  longer  ensnare  the 
ignorant  and  unwary. 

Mr.  Hunt's  sentence  was,  that  I  pay  a  fine  of  three 
dollars  and  costs  of  prosecution  ;  at  the  same  time  in 
timating  that  a  repetition  of  the  offence  would  be  fol 
lowed  by  a  much  heavier  penalty.  -I  assured  him  I 
had  done  my  duty  in  attempting  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  Baptists,  and  it  was  contrary  to  my  sense  of 
propriety  to  pay  a  fine  for  it.  And  I  should,  there 
fore,  refuse  to  do  it.  And,  as  to  threat  of  augmented 
penalty  for  similar  fidelity  in  future,  I  should  not  be 
at  all  intimidated  by  it.  And  so  long  as  any  portion 
of  my  countrymen  were  held  in  slavery,  my  voice 
would  never  be  silent,  till  silent  in  death. 

Mr.  Hunt  then  ordered  me  to  be  imprisoned  till  the 
fine  was  paid. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  next  day  this  order  was  carried 
into  effect,  by  my  incarceration  in  this  loathsome 
prison,  where  duty  to  God  and  my  countrymen  re 
quires  me  to  remain  at  present.  Relief  is  kindly 
offered  me  from  several  sources,  whenever  I  shall 
think  proper  to  accept  it.  But  I  feel  that  the  object 
is  not  yet  accomplished  that  my  heavenly  Father  had 
in  view,  in  sending  me  to  this  dismal  abode.  And 
till  that  is  done,  I  have  no  wish  to  be  relieved.  To 
one  as  restless  as  1  am,  imprisonment  is  oppressive. 
But  I  can  endure  it  patiently  for  His  sake  who  died 
for  me.  I  can  now  surely  "remember  them  that  are 
in  bonds,  as  bound  with  them."  *  * 

Bid  my  friends,  one  and  all,  be  of  good  cheer.  We 
shall  triumph  soon.  My  eye  is  already  on  the  victory. 
You  and  I  may  be  called  to  yield  up  our  lives  in  the 


272  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

final  struggle.  Be  it  so.  I  am  ready.  I  have  already 
passed  the  bitterness  of  death.  My  enemies  have 
done  their  worst.  I  fear  them  no  longer.  Do  not 
think  me  insane,  that  I  write  thus.  I  know  in  whom 
I  have  believed,  and  that  a  happier  state  awaits  me 
when  the  toils  of  life  are  done. 

Your  friend  and  brother, 

STEPHEN  S.  FOSTER. 

Brave  hero  !  But  many  did  call  him  insane,  even 
some  of  his  best,  truest  friends.  I  remember  once, 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  at  an  anniversary,  we  had  a  discussion 
lasting  all  an  afternoon  and  evening.  Garrison,  Rog 
ers,  Wendell  Phillips,  Charles  Burleigh  and  Foster 
were,  of  course,  all  on  one  side.  Rev.  John  Pierpont, 
Theodore  Parker,  Thomas  Earle,  of  Philadelphia, 
David  Lee  Child,  the  gifted  husband  of  the  more 
gifted  Lydia  Maria  Child,  and  probably  others,  were 
on  the  opposing  side.  The  house  was, crowded  in 
every  part.  Mr.  Pierpont  was  speaking,  and  with 
quite  his  usual  eloquence  and  power.  I  was  sitting 
with  Foster,  down  in  the  body  of  the  hall.  Every  ear 
seemed  to  be  opened,  every  eye  fixed  on  the  speaker. 
Suddenly,  Foster  detected  what  proved  a  fatal  moral 
flaw  in  the  logic.  Quietly  he  rose  and  addressed  the 
chair:  "Mr.  President."  Mr.  Pierpcnt,  always  the 
perfect  gentleman  in  every  grace  the  word  implies, 
and  never  more  so  than  when  in  debate,  ceased  speak 
ing  and  listened.  Everybody  listened.  Foster  re 
sumed  :  "Mr.  President,  will  our  friend,  Mr.  Pier 
pont,  allow  me  to  ask  him  a  question  just  here?" 
"  Certainly,"  was  the  ready  response  from  the  speaker, 
gracefully  drawing  back  from  the  front  of  the  plat 
form.  Foster  then  proposed  his  question.  I  do  not 
remember  it,  but  I  well  recollect  that  it  lighted  up 
the  whole  dark,  deep  chasm  between  moral  rectitude 
and  political  expediency,  showing  Mr.  Pierpont  far 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  273 

over  on  the  wrong  side.  All  saw  it,  but  none  ap 
plauded,  though,  in  that  vast  throng,  thousands  must 
have  approved.  The  stillness  was  almost  overpower 
ing.  Mr.  Pierpont  broke  it  in  a  manner  that  at  once 
engraved  him  on  the  tablets  of  my  memory,  and  em 
balmed  him  in  my  heart's  affection  forevermore.  He 
spoke  only  this  :  "  Mr.  President,  some  folks  say  our 
friend  Foster  is  crazy.  But  I  wonder  what  this  audi 
ence  think  about  it?"  Only  this,  when  a  storm  of 
applause  burst  forth  almost  rocking  the  old  "  Cradle 
of  Liberty  "  to  its  foundations.  Mr.  Foster's  triumph 
was  complete  ;  but  the  graceful  magnanimity  of  Mr. 
Pierpont  I  am  sure  entitled  him  to  a  kingly  share  in 
all  the  honors  of  that  memorable  scene. 

Mr.  Foster,  not  without  reason  and  propriety,  closed 
his  pathetic  prison  epistle  with  the  appeal  :  "  Think 
me  not  insane  because  I  thus  write." 

Insane  !  Had  a  like  insanity  pervaded  a  small  part 
of  the  American  church,  pulpit  and  people,  southern 
slavery  would  never  have  attained  such  proportions  in 
the  name  of  republican  liberty  and  protestant  Chris 
tian  religion,  as  to  demand  the  blood  of  half  a  million 
young  men,  brave  and  beautiful,  to  wash  its  guilt 
away. 

Insane  !  Rogers  did  not  deem  him  insane.  Blaz 
ing  down  two  solid  columns  of  the  same  page  of  the 
Herald  of  Freedom  with  the  letter,  went  his  editorial 
comments,  every  word  of  which  should  be  here  repro 
duced,  in  justice  to  martyr  memory  and  the  facts  of 
history.  On  the  jail  itself  he  wrote  :  '*  It  is  provi 
dential  in  Foster's  behalf  that  Amherst  jail  stands  so 
near  Chestnut  hills  and  anti-slavery  Milford,  so  that 
the  friends  of  humanity  in  those  favored  places  can 
come  to  his  relief  and  comfort  in  his  otherwise  soli 
tary  confinement.  Those  two  localities  abound  in 


274  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

ministering  spirits  to  the  faithful  prisoner.  They  have 
seen  to  the  cleansing  and  purification,  to  some  extent, 
of  this  loathsome  receptacle  of  the  victims  of  clerical 
and  deaconish  vengeance.  They  have  expurgated 
Foster's  department,  I  understand,  of  its  vermin.  The 
character  of  a  people  may  be  judged  somewhat  by  its 
prisons,  as  well  as  its  deacons  and  clergy.  A  savage 
people  will  support  bloody  minded  incarcerating  dea 
cons  and  dragging  out  clergy,  and  filthy,  noisome, 
verminous  cells,  in  which  to  shut  up  those  whom  it 
hates  and  fears."  . 

Referring  to  the  justice  who  tried  the  cause  and 
pronounced  the  sentence,  he  said  :  "  The  humane 
magistrate  who  played  the  part  of  Pilate  in  the  matter, 
albeit  he  did  not  wash  his  hands  as  the  profligate 
Roman  did,  fined  Foster  low,  yet  so  high  (three  dol 
lars)  that  he  thought  in  his  majestic  soul  that  it  would 
deter  him  from  "  speaking  again  in  the  synagogue,  in 
this  name."  He  expressed  his  trust,  I  understand,  to 
that  effect,  when  pronouncing  his  solemn  sentence.  I 
should  love  to  have  witnessed  the  look  with  which 
Stephen  replied  to  that  magnificent  suggestion.  Poor 
depository  of  a  little  brief  authority  !  He  little  appre 
hended  the  character  or  the  calling  of  the  man  he  was 
dealing  with.  He  might  naturally  enough  suppose 
that  one  who  had  abandoned  all  the  prospects  of  young 
ambition,  a  pulpit,  a  chance  few  young  men  of  the 
time  have  had  before  them,  (but  for  his  Christian  in 
tegrity)  a  reputation,  which  had  he  pursued  it,  would, 
ere  this  time,  have  crowned  him  thick  with  literary 
and  ecclesiastical  honors  ;  who  had  abandoned  all  and 
made  himself  "  of  no  reputation,"  would  now  be  driven 
back  from  the  high  and  solemn  duties  for  the  sake  of 
which  he  had  done  it  all,  by  a  three  dollar  fine  !  It  was 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  275 

an  apprehension  worthy  the  official  dignitary  who 
could  mistake  Christian  participation  in  a  religious 
meeting  for  a  legal  disturbance  of  that  meeting  !" 

Mr.  Rogers  had  some  time  before  given  his  opinion 
of  Mr.  Foster's  right  to  enter  professedly  Christian 
assemblies,  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  in 
language  to  this  effect  :  "  Mr.  Foster  is  the  agent 
of  the  State  Anti-Slavery  Society,  but  takes  his  own 
way  of  performing  the  duties  of  his  agency.  How  far 
the  society  would  approve  this  new  measure  we  can 
not  say.  For  ourselves,  we  cannot  deny  the  Christian 
ity  of  it,  and  we  see  not  how  the  meetings  he  enters 
can,  or  how  they  can  object  to  it  consistently  with 
their  Christian  profession.  They  assume  to  be  Chris 
tian  assemblies,  and  to  be  governed  by  apostolic  rules 
and  usages.  They  would  be  scandalized  to  be  desig 
nated  as  any  other  than  Christian  meetings.  By  those 
rules  and  usages,  Foster  has  undoubted  right  to  en 
ter,  uninvited,  unpermitted,  and  be  heard.  They  are 
congregational  meetings  to  be  sure,  but  they  claim 
that  Congregationalism  is  Christianity,  in  its  most 
approved  form,  and  has  no  other  than  New  Testa 
ment  organization,  principles  and  usages.  As  political 
assemblies,  they  may  deny  Foster's  right.  As  worldly 
meetings,  they  may  charge  him  with  intrusion.  As 
heathen  meetings,  they  may  complain  and  cannot  be 
estopped  by  the  plea  that  Foster  comes  in  as  a  Chris 
tian,  claiming  under  the  usages  of  a  Christian  assem 
bly.  The  reply  that  they  are  a  heathen  and  not  a 
Christian  assembly  would  put  him  on  a  different  de 
fense.  Whether  it  would  be  a  defense  in  that  case 
for  him  to  say  that,  as  a  man  he  has  a  right,  and  is  in 
duty  bound  to  enter  any  human  assembly  and  cry 
aloud  in  the  paramount  behalf  of  perishing  humanity, 


2  -jC)  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVKRY    APOSTLES. 

whatever  business  might  be  going  on  there,  is  another 
question  and  need  not  be  decided,  so  long  as  these 
meetings  do  not  claim  to  be  heathen." 

This,  and  much  more,  was  written  for  and  published 
in  the  Herald  of  Freedom  of  the  first  of  October, 
1841,  in  connection  with  an  account  of  the  Hancock 
meeting  of  that  year. 

Whether  Mr.  Foster  was  right  or  wrong  in  his 
course,  was  never  considered  by  the  clergy  at  all. 
They  assumed  that  he  was  wrong,  and  with  equal  au 
dacity,  they  assumed  always  that  they  were  right  in 
ordering  him  dragged  out  and  sent  to  prison,  or  fined, 
or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  a  civil  magistrate.  Thus 
they  voluntarily  placed  themselves,  as  Christian  min 
isters,  under  the  protection  of  the  sword  of  human, 
worldly  authority,  while  claiming  to  be,  while  profes 
sing  to  be,  servants  and  disciples  of  the  prophesied 
''Prince  of  Peace."  Of  him  who  said  :  "My  king 
dom  is  not  of  this  world.  If  my  kingdom  were  of 
this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight  *  *  * 
But  now  is  my  kingdom  not  from  hence." 

Nor  should  readers  of  these  chronicles  forget  who 
was  Mr.  Foster,  and  what  was  his  object  in  thus  seek 
ing  the  ear,  the  heart  and  conscience  of  the  American 
churches  and  people,  "whether  they  would  hear  or 
whether  they  would  forbear."  He  was  a  Christian 
teacher  and  minister,  not  then  ordained,  though  he 
had  thoroughly  educated  and  qualified  himself  to  oc 
cupy  any  pulpit  or  professor's  chair,  in  college  or 
theological  seminary.  He  knew  profoundly  the  his 
tory  of  the  church  and  its  ministry,  from  the  calling 
of  Moses  and  the  Levites  to  Samuel,  the  earliest 
prophet  ;  to  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  and  onward  to  John 
the  Baptist  and  Jesus  Christ  and  his  chosen  and  or 
dained  apostles.  And  when  or  where  in  all  the  Jew- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  277 

ish  or  Christian  scriptures  was  it  ever  read  or  known 
that  the  priests,  prophets,  or  apostles,  were  to  ask 
leave  of  the  ungodly  to  preach  unto  them  the  doc 
trines  of  repentance,  reformation  and  righteousness? 
Or  when,  or  where,  was  it  ever  read  or  heard  that  such 
right,  or  even  duty,  was  ever  forbidden  by  any  "  rules 
or  usages,"  still  less,  laws  of  divine  appointment  or 
approval,  in  any  assembly,  Jewish  or  Christian  ? 

Mr.  Foster,  like  Mr.  Garrison  and  Mr.  Rogers,  was 
a  Christian  and  Christian  minister  and  teacher,  in  all 
that  those  words  of  hallowed  memory  could  ever  be 
rightly  made  to  mean.  And  to  whom  was  he  sent  ? 
Or,  if  not  sent,  to  whom  did  he  come?  To  a  nation 
of  oppressors,  the  like  of  whom,  under  all  the  circum 
stances,  no  age  had  ever  seen,  from  the  bondage  of 
Israel  in  Egypt  to  the  enslavement  of  Anglo  Saxons 
by  Norman  invaders,  whose  deeds  of  manumission 
were  sometimes  recorded  on  the  blank  leaves  of  the 
parish  Bible,  kept  in  the  church,  secure  from  all  inva 
sion  or  violation  as  though  sanctioned  by  a  "thus 
saith  the  Lord,"  with  the  volume  itself.  Foster  was 
himself  part  of  a  nation,  (no  unimportant  part,  as  be 
came  apparent),  that  in  the  name  of  republicanism 
and  Christianity,  enslaved  down  to  lowest  brute-beast 
level,  one-sixth  part  of  its  entire  people.  He  found 
in  his  own  nation,  millions  of  human,  immortal  beings, 
without  one  marriage  sanctioned  by  law,  or  sanctified 
by  religion,  among  them  all  !  One-sixth  part  of  the 
habitations  of  the  people,  houses  of  open,  known 
prostitution,  the  holy  rights,  responsibilities  and  de 
lights  of  parentage  as  utterly  unknown,  unrecognized, 
as  amon^  the  beasts  of  the  stable  or  the  stall.  Mil 
lions  of  immortal,  accountable  human  beings,  and  not 
one  of  them  permitted  to  learn  to  read  the  name  of 
the  great  creator,  under  pains  and  penalties,  severe, 


278  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

sometimes  almost,  as  for  murder  itself  !  Millions  of 
men,  women  and  children,  held  accountable  to  human 
law,  as  well  as  divine,  of  wh6m  a  commission  of  the 
synods  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  in  the  year 
of  Christian  grace,  1833,  declared,  as  with  astonish 
ment  :  "  Who  would  credit  it,  that  in  these  years  of 
religious  revival  and  benevolent  effort,  in  this  Christian 
republic,  there  are  over  two  millions  of  human  beings 
in  the  condition  of  heathen,  and,  in  some  respects, 
in  worse  condition  !  From  long-continued  and  close 
observation,  we  believe  that  their  moral  and  religious 
condition  is  such  that  they  may  justly  be  considered 
the  heathen  of  tJiis  Christian  country,  and  will  bear  com 
parison  with  heathen  in  any  country  in  the  world  !  " 

Another  writer  in  that  same  South  Carolina  synod, 
ou  his  own  account,  calls  loudly  for  missionaries  to 
those  heathens,  saying  ;  "  I  hazard  the  assertion  that 
throughout  the  bounds  of  our  synod,  there  are  at  least 
one  hundred  thousand  slaves,  speaking  the  same  lan 
guage  with  ourselves,  who  never  heard  of  the 
plan  of  salvation  by  a  redeemer  !  " 

To  such  a  people  and  nation  did  Stephen  Foster 
come  with  his  terrible  words  of  warning,  expostulation 
and  rebuke.  Saw  Moses  and  Aaron  any  such  abom 
ination  and  outrage  in  Egypt  ?  But  they  asked  no 
leave  to  enter  the  house  of  Pharaoh  and  confront  the 
tyrant  to  his  face  ;  demand  immediate  and  uncon 
ditional  emancipation  of  every  bondman  in  the  land, 
and  all  his  house  hold  ;  and  flocks  and  herds,  as  well. 
Isaiah  asked  no  leave  nor  license  to  go  to  the  house 
of  Israel  and  Jacob,  and  show  them  their  sins,  and 
rebuke  them  for  their  vain  fastings  and  solemn, 
religious  mockeries,  while  refusing  to  "  loose  the 
bands  of  wickedness,  to  undo  the  heavy  burdens  and 
let  the  captive  go  free,"  and  break  every  yoke  of 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  279 

oppression  and  cruelty.  His  commission  was,  "Cry 
aloud,  and  spare  not ;  lift  up  thy  voice  like  a  trumpet!" 
And  he  obeyed  ;  and  so  did  Jeremiah  ;  so  did  Eze- 
kiel.  To  be  sure,  they  were  persecuted  ;  were  impris 
oned  ;  some  suffered  death.  But  what  then  ?  They 
were  obeying  what  to  them,  was  a  divine  command. 
"Go  thou  and  speak  my  words  unto  them  ;  whether 
they  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will  forbear  ;  for  they 
are  a  rebellious  house."  *  "They  will 

not  hearken  unto  thee,  for  they  will  not  hearken  unto 
me  ;  for  all  the  house  of  Israel  are  impudent  and 
hard-hearted." 

But  can  it  be  shown  from  any  history,  sacred  or 
secular,  that  Hebrew  prophet  ever  saw  such  oppression 
and  cruelty  as  our  slave-holders  created  and  unblush- 
ingly  confessed  !  Or  even  paganism  more  dreadful 
than  that  which  southern  synods  owned  covered  all 
their  slaveland  as  with  a  funeral  pall  ? 

But  the  no  less  faithful  prophet,  Stephen  Foster,  saw 
it.  He  felt  it.  He  felt  that  he  was  a  part  of  it,  till  so 
far  as  it  was  possible,  he  had  come  out  from  it,  sep 
arated  himself  from  it,  religiously  and  politically,  and 
consecrated  himself  and  all  that  he  had,  all  that  he 
was,  all  that  he  could  acquire,  all  that  he  could  become, 
to  the  work  of  redeeming  the  slave,  and  rescuing  his 
nation  from  the  righteous  wrath  of  that  God  before 
whom  Jefferson  declared  he  trembled  when  he  remem 
bered  that  He  was  just,  and  that  His  justice  could  not 
sleep  forever  ! 

Had  not  James  G.  Birney  proved  by  his  tract,  of 
stunning  power  of  argument,  that  "the  American 
churches  were  the  bulwarks  of  American  slavery  ;  " 
and  every  witness  furnished  by  the  church  and  pulpit 
themselves;  and  Judge  Birney  himself  a  ruling  elder 
in  the  most  powerful  and  popular  denomination  in 


280  ACTS    OF    ANTI- SLA  VERY    APOSTLES. 

all  the  south  ?  and  so  soon  as  he  had  washed  his  hands 
clean  from  all  blood  guiltiness  in  slave-holding,  a  man 
of  most  unblemished  moral  and  social,  as  well  as  intel 
lectual  character,  in  this  or  any  nation.  And  had  not 
Foster  demonstrated  to  the  whole  Christian  world,  and 
out  of  their  own  mouths,  too,  that  the  American 
church  and  clergy  were  a  great  brotherhood  of 
thieves  ?  A  great  brotherhood  of  thieves,  taking 
them  at  their  own  word  ;  not  producing  a  single  wit 
ness  of  his  own,  nor  cross-questioning  one  of  theirs  ? 

Why  should  he  not  then  enter  the  synagogues  on 
the  sabbath  day,  with  greater  boldness  than  ever  did 
Jesus  the  synagogues  of  Judea,  or  the  temple  at  Jeru 
salem  ?  enter  them,  though  every  New  Hampshire  hill 
had  been  a  Calvary,  and  every  tree  a  cross  !  Who 
was  Mr.  Justice  Hunt  of  Nashua,  with  his  stupendous 
three  dollar  fine,  or  the  deacons  of  Reverend  Dura  D. 
Pratt,  or  his  reverence  himself,  with  Amherst  jail  and 
a  constable  drafted  from  Nashua  Universalist  church 
to  drag  him  away  to  it,  who,  or  what  were  all  these  to 
the  soul  and  spirit  of  one  who  had  heard  and  heeded 
the  voice  of  Him  who  said;  "I  do  send  thee  to  a 
people  impudent  and  hard-hearted,  who  will  not 
hearken  unto  thee,  for  they  will  not  hearken  unto  me. 
Nevertheless,  go  and  speak  my  word  unto  them,  and 
it  shall  be  known  that  there  hath  been  a  rjrophet 
among  them,  whether  they  will  hear,  or  whether  they 
will  forbear  !  " 

But  this  account  may  be  extended  too  far.  Inclos 
ing  it,  probably  it  may  be  as  a  leave  taking  f  rom  my  ever 
to  be  revered  friend  and  companion  in  arms  in  our 
moral  but  fearful  conflict  for  the  rights  of  humanity. 
Incidentally  his  name  may  appear  again  in  these  pages, 
but  that  wilPbe  all  their  limits  allow.  The  close  shall 
also  be  in  his  own  words,  appropriate  climax  to  his  letter 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  281 

from  the  jail.  Under  date  of  Canterbury,  January 
15,  1842,  he  wrote  to  the  Herald  of  Freedom  a  letter 
from  which  the  following  are  extracts.  It  will  be  ob 
served  that  he  had  almost  twenty  years  yet  before  him 
of  fearful  encounter,  with  the  no  less  faithful  com 
panionship,  who  with  him  endured  to  the  end  of  the 
anti-slavery  strife  : 

DEAR  ROGERS — I  designed  to  be  with  you  in  Con 
cord  to-day,  to  commence  a  course  of  anti-slavery 
lectures,  but,  as  you  see,  I  am  not  there,  and  for  the 
very  worst  of  reasons.  I  am  disarmed  if  not  con 
quered  by  the  enemy.  My  voice  for  all  practicable 
purposes  is  gone.  Since  the  wet  weather  came  on, 
the  inflammation  on  my  lungs  has  returned  with  other 
symptoms  of  unfavorable  character  than  those  of  the 
original  attack.  *  *  *  I  am  now  laid  on  the  shelf 
for  the  present,  perhaps  for  the  winter.  Possibly  for 
even  a  longer  period.  Indeed,  when  I  dare  look 
on  my  shattered  form,  I  sometimes  think  prisons  will 
be  needed  for  me  but  little  longer.  *  *  Within 
the  last  fifteen  months  four  times  have  they  opened 
their  dismal  cells  for  my  reception.  Twenty-four 
times  have  my  countrymen  dragged  me  from  their 
temples  of  worship,  and  twice  have  they  thrown  me 
with  great  violence  from  the  second  story  of  their 
buildings,  careless  of  consequences.  Once  in  a  Bap 
tist  meeting-house  they  gave  me  an  evangelical  kick 
in  the  side,  which  left  me  for  weeks  an  invalid.  Times 
out  of  memory  have  they  broken  up  my  meetings  with 
violence,  and  hunted  me  with  brick-bats  and  bad  eggs. 
Once  they  indicted  me  for  assault  and  battery  ;  I 
think  it  was  on  that  notorious  band  of  kidnappers,  the 
Boston  police  and  their  abettors,  the  judges  of  the 
supreme  court.  Once  in  the  name  of  outraged  law 
and  justice  have  they  attempted  to  put  me  in  irons. 

18 


282  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Twice  have  they  punished  me  with  fine  for  preaching 
the  gospel  ;  and  once  in  a  mob  of  two  thousand 
people  have  they  deliberately  attempted  to  murder  me, 
and  were  only  foiled  in  their  designs  after  inflicting 
some  twenty  blows  on  my  head,  face  and  neck,  by  the 
heroism  of  a  brave  and  noble  woman.  To  name  her 
in  this  besotted  age  would  be  to  cast  pearls  before 
swine  ;  but  her  name  shall  be  known  in  other  worlds. 
*  *  Still  I  will  not  complain,  though  death 
should  be  found  close  on  my  track.  My  lot  is  easy 
compared  with  that  of  those  for  whom  I  labor.  I  can 
endure  \.\\t  prison,  but  save  me  from  the  plantation  /" 
Space  permits  no  more.  This  whole  letter  is  worthy 
a  place  by  the  side  of  the  most  pathetic  strains  in  the 
epistles  of  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 


CHAPTER     XII. 

THE      MARTYR       PERIOD  —  IMPRISONMENT       OF      ALLEN, 
BROWN,     BEACH,    HARRIMAN     AND     FOSTER. 

Two  British  women  wrote  each  a  work  on  American 
slavery,  of  similar  character.  One  was  entitled  "  The 
Martyr  Age,"  by  Harriet  Martineau  ;  the  other,  by 
Eliza  Wigham,  was  "  The  Anti-slavery  Cause  in  Amer 
ica,  and  its  Martyrs."  Both  were  highly  interesting 
and  valuable  but  neither  could  treat  of  the  later  per 
secutions  and  imprisonment  of  Foster  and  others,  for 
their  heroic  determination  to  bring  the  cause  of  the 
enslaved  to  the  doors  and  altars  of  the  sanctuary.  A 
dozen  years  before,  Garrison  had  appealed  to  the  pul 
pit,  beginning  with  his  own  minister,  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  then  of  Boston.  But  his  appeal  was  worse 
than  in  vain.  "  I  have  already  too  many  irons  in  the 
fire,"  responded  the  reverend  doctor.  But  Garrison 
said,  seriously  :  "  You  had  better  let  all  your  irons 
burn  up,  than  neglect  your  duty  to  the  slave."  "  I  am 
a  colonizationist,"  said  the  doctor;  "your  zeal  is 
commendable,  but  misguided.  Give  up  your  fanati 
cal  notions  about  immediate  emancipation,  and  be 
guided  by  us  (meaning  the  clergy),  and  we  will  make 
you  the  Wilberforce  of  America."  And  so  said  nearly 
all  the  leading  clergy  of  the  north  ;  Congregational, 
Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Episcopal,  Unita 
rian,  all  alike.  The  exceptions,  such  as  were  worthy 
the  distinction,  were  soon  proscribed  as  "  Garriso- 
nians,"  name  then  below  every  name.  "  And  there 
seemed  a  settled  determination  that  the  people  should 


284  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

not  hear  the  abolitionists,  nor  know  of  their  doctrines, 
nor  of  their  own  duties  and  obligations  to  the  slaves. 
Many  proofs  of  this  have  already  been  adduced  ;  but 
many  more  are  soon  to  appear.  Another  "  Martyr 
Age "  was  demanded  to  expose  and  overturn  the 
power  and  reign  of  a  pulpit  thus  given  over  to  work 
iniquity  and  practice  such  oppression  and  cruelty,  in 
the  very  name  of  him  who  came  preaching  "  deliver 
ance  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison 
doors  to  them  that  were  bound."  New  Hampshire 
and  Massachusetts  were  not  worse  than  other  states, 
but  in  them  were  many  of  the  fiercest  encounters;  in 
them  was  this  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places  most 
fearfully  revealed  to  the  gaze  and  astonishment  of 
mankind. 

Take  the  following  excerpts  from  one  Pastoral  Cir 
cular,  issued  by  the  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire, 
Baptist  association,  headed,  "To  the  churches  com 
posing  the  Portsmouth  association — grace,  mercy  and 
peace  from  God  the  Father,  and  Christ  Jesus,  our 
Lord  : " 

"  There  are  indications  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of 
a  moral  and  religious  revolution."  This  was  in  the 
autumn  of  1842,  and  the  dreaded  "revolution"  was 
indeed  upon  them,  in  the  new  and  increased  faithful 
ness  of  some,  at  least,  of  the  anti-slavery  apostles  in 
breaking  down  the  barriers  a  wicked  and  cruel  clergy 
had  raised  between  them  and  the  people,  as  well  with 
out  as  within  the  churches.  With  subtle  cunning  and 
real  Jesuitry  they  concealed  in  their  Circular  (wishing 
"grace,  mercy  and  peace"),  the  names,  not  only  of 
persons,  but  of  principles  and  objects  they  meant  to 
oppose,  and  talked  about  important  schemes  of  moral 
and  philanthropic  name  under  direction  of  those  who 
have  little  or  no  sympathy  for  pure  Christianity  ;  in 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  285 

one  breath  denouncing  the  ministry,  and  in  the  next 
calling  for  its  influence  to  be  manifested  in  support  of 
their  favorite  measures  for  doing  good.  *  *  * 
*  *  "  Making  it  difficult  to  counteract  their  in 
fluence  in  many  cases,  because  of  the  goodness  of 
the  cause  in  which  they  profess  to  be  engaged." 

With  verbiage  vague  as  this,  the  Circular  pro 
ceeded  at  much  letigth  to  caricature  the  faithful  labor 
ers  in  the  lecturing  field,  as  well  as  editors  and 
others,  and  warning  their  disciples  against  presuming 
on  the  dignity  and  authority  of  those  who  claim  to 
be  set  over  them  in  the  Lord,  in  strain  like  this  : 

Let  the  churches,  directly  or  indirectly,  rule  the 
ministers,  let  them  lose  confidence  in  their  religious 
teachers,  as  men  who  merely  consult  their  own  per 
sonal  views  and  ends,  without  inquiring  what  truth 
and  faithfulness  to  the  souls  of  the  people  demand 
at  their  hands  ;  let  the  ministry,  by  any  effort  of  the 
church,  or  of  the  enemies  of  God,  become  despised 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  the  chief  instrumentality 
of  heaven's  appointment  for  rearing  up  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  on  earth  is  gone. 

But  the  following  single  paragraph  is  quite  sufficient 
for  all  present  purposes  : 

We  are  also  aware  that  the  ministry  itself  is  charge 
able,  to  no  little  degree,  with  bringing  about  sirch  a 
state  of  things  as  we  herein  deplore.  May  be  they 
have  thought,  by  placing  themselves  more  on  a  seem 
ing  level  with  their  fellow-citizens,  by  mingling  in 
their  debating  clubs,  and  joining  with  them  in  their 
efforts  to  bring  about  certain  moral  improvements, 
that  in  this  way  they  would  get  a  nearer  access  to 
them  with  the  gospel  ;  but  we  think  that  by  pursuing 
such  a  policy,  they  have  unavoidably  lost  that  reverence 
which  tJie  people  must  have  for  their  ministers,  over  that 
which  they  cherish  for  other  men,  and  lost  also  the  end 
which  they  thought  to  gain,  by  taking  such  steps. 
Nor  is  this  all.  Ministers  have  not  been  sufficiently 
respectful  and  decent  in  their  intercourse  toward  each 


286  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

other,  and  the  world  and  the  church  have  seen  it,  and 
taken  undue  liberties  from  it.  Hence,  the  ministry 
has  plunged  a  dagger  at  its  own  vitals  ;  and  now,  as 
long  as  they  continue  to  disrespect  and  accuse  each 
other,  they  must  not  be  surprised  if  they  are  dises- 
teemed  by  others.  Let  them  begin  the  work  of  reform 
ation  among  themselves,  and  let  them  so  demean 
themselves  that  the  robes  of  their  office  shall  be  held  in 
future  by  all,  as  sacred  and  inviolable. 

Abolitionists  soon  learned  what  that  "seeming 
level,"  and  "  mingling  in  debating  clubs,"  meant,  with 
out  being  told  by  the  clergy  themselves.  In  this  case 
they  were  super-ingenuous. 

But  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  were  even  more 
definite  and  authoritative,  speaking  through  Congre 
gational  associations  in  state  councils  assembled  ;  and 
enacted  what  doubtless  to  this  day  is  the  law  of  the 
whole  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  church,  not 
only  of  those  states,  but  of  the  whole  land  : 

Resolved,  That  the  operations  of  itinerant  agents 
and  lecturers,  attempting  to  enlighten  the  churches  in 
respect  to  particular  points  of  Christian  doctrine  and 
Christian  morals,  and  to  control  the  religious  senti 
ment  of  the  community  on  topics  which  fall  most  ap 
propriately  within  the  sphere  of  pastoral  instruction 
and  pastoral  discretion  as  to  time  and  manner,  with 
out  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  pastors  and  regular 
ecclesiastical  bodies,  are  an  unauthorised  interference 
with  the  RIGHTS,  duties  and  discretion  of  the  stated 
ministry — dangerous  to  the  influence  of  the  pastoral 
office,  and  fatal  to  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the 
churches. 

The  pastoral  letter  of  the  Congregational  association 
of  Massachusetts,  at  the  same  time,  contained  mandates 
like  these  : 

We  would  call  your  attention  to  the  importance  of 
maintaining  that  respect  and  deference  to  the  pastoral 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  287 

office,  which  is  enjoined  in  scripture,  and  which  is  es 
sential  to  the  best  influence  of  the  ministry  on  you 
and  your  children. 

One  way  in  which  this  respect  has  been  in  some 
cases  violated,  is  in  encouraging  lecturers  or  preach 
ers  on  certain  topics  of  reform  to  present  their  sub 
jects  within  the  parochial  limits  of  settled  pastors 
without  their  consent.  (!) 

Your  minister  is  ordained  of  Gpd  to  be  your  teacher, 
and  is  commanded  to  feed  that  flock  over  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  hath  made  him  overseer.  If  there  are 
certain  topics  upon  which  he  does  not  preach  with 
the  frequency  or  in  the  manner  that  would  please  you, 
it  is  a  violation  of  sacred  and  important  rights  to  en 
courage  a  stranger  to  present  them.  Deference  and 
subordination  are  essential  to  the  happiness  of  society, 
and  peculiarly  so  in  the  relation  of  a  people  to  their 
pastor.  Let  them  despise  or  slight  him'and  he  ceases 
to  do  them  good,  and  they  cease  to  respect  those 
things  of  which  he  is  at  once  the  minister  and  the 
symbol.  There  is  great  solemnity  in  these  words  : 
"  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you  and  submit 
yourselves." 

And  Vermont  Congregationalism  through  its  State 
Domestic  Missionary  Society,  in  1841,  spoke  officially 
to  this  effect  : 

The  ministers  are  the  heads  of  the  churches ;  the 
leaders  in  the  sacramental  host  of  God's  elect.  No 
measure  can  be  carried  without  them,  and  much  less 
in  opposition  to  them.  And  scarcely  any  proper  mea 
sure  can  fail  to  succeed  when  the  ministry  put  forth 
their  power.  In  view  of  this  fact  it  is  asked  with  utmost 
earnestness,  ought  they  not,  and  in  view  of  their  ob 
ligations,  and  of  the  glorious  results  sought,  will  they 
not  come  up  to  this  work  and  lead  on  the  churches  ? 
The  churches  can  be  reached  in  no  other  way.  No 
man  can  approach  a  church  when  the  pastor  inter 
poses.  He  cannot,  and  he  may  not  if  he  can.  To  give 
Vermont  to  Christ,  this  is  the  peculiar  work  of  the 
church  of  Vermont. 


288  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

And  as  spoke  Vermont  in  these  few  utterances,  so 
spoke,  practically,  the  entire  church  of  New  England 
and  of  the  north,  of  every  denomination,  not  even  the 
Quakers  excepted. 

What  now  was  the  duty  of  every  faithful  anti-slavery 
man  and  woman  ? 

The  ministers  were  the  heads  of  the  churches  ;  the 
leaders  of  the  sacramental  host.  No  measure  could 
be  carried  without  them,  No  measure  could  fail  to 
succeed  when  they  put  forth  their  power.  No  man 
could  approach  a  church  when  the  pastor  interposed. 
"  He  cannot,  and  he  may  not  if  he  can"  was  the  dread 
declaration.  Here  now  was  the  situation.  The  Ports 
mouth  association  had  issued  their  Encyclical  for  the 
double  purpose  of  blasting  the  name  and  reputation 
of  the  abolitionists  to  save  not  only  themselves  per 
sonally,  in  their  pro-slavery  infamy,  but  the  clerical 
order,  which  they  dishonored  by  their  character  and 
conduct. 

Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  had  spoken  a  little 
before  Vermont,  but  substantially  to  the  same  fearful 
effect.  And  New  Hampshire  had  already  begun  the 
execution  of  the  same  spiritual  decrees,  and  found  the 
state  ready,  willing  and  waiting  with  its  courts,  con 
stables,  county  houses  and  jails,  to  open  up  the  new 
Spanish  inquisition  with  all  its  terrors  and  tortures. 

And  the  new  organization,  led  largely,  almost 
wholly,  by  ministers,  endangered  the  good  name  of 
anti-slavery,  though  happily  only  for  a  short  time,  for 
soon  most  of  the  new  organized  type  of  anti-slavery 
sunk  to  a  political  party,  pledged  to  support  slavery 
in  the  states  as  then  existing,  including  the  right  to 
recapture  fugitive  slaves,  only  resisting  its  extension 
by  congress  into  new  territory.  That,  and  to  traduce 
and  villify  faithful,  uncompromising  abolitionists,  and 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  289- 

to  apologize  for  slave-holders,  and  to  defend  their 
right  not  only  to  the  Christian  name  at  home,  but  to 
recognition  and  fellowship  as  Christians  and  Christian 
ministers  at  the  north,  was  an  important  part  of  the 
work  of  most  of  the  leading  clergy,  bishops  and  doc 
tors  of  divinity  included,  in  every  evangelical  demom- 
ination  in  the  country,  whether  holding  slavery  as 
sacred  or  professing  anti-slavery.  Religious  news 
papers  in  all  the  evangelical  sects  furnished  the  evi 
dence  of  this  every  month  if  not  every  week  in  the 
year.  Reports  and  resolutions  of  the  proceedings  of 
all  the  national  missionary,  Bible  and  tract  societies 
often  abounded  with  such  evidence.  General  assem 
blies,  Presbyterian  ;  general  conferences,  Methodist ; 
association  and  consociation  of  the  Congregational 
churches  all  testified  to  the  same  terrible  truth  ;  and 
though  the  Methodist  general  conference  was  rent  in 
twain  by  the  angry  agitation,  there  never  was  an  hour 
while  slavery  lasted  when  the  northern  conference  did 
not  hold  in  its  communion  thousands  of  slave-holders, 
with  their  tens  of  thousands  of  slaves  !  Their  annual 
conferences  extended  clear  down  to  Arkansas,  Texas 
and  New  Mexico,  according  to  their  own  Book  of  Dis 
cipline,  published  so  late  as  the  year  1860,  and  now 
lying  on  my  table.  Not  that  there  were  not  many 
good  anti-slavery  men  and  women  in  the  churches, 
but  how  could  they  be  reached  ?  Stephen  Foster 
found  a  way.  I  had  spent  most  of  the  summer  of  1841 
in  my  native  Massachusetts,  but  when  about  to  return 
to  New  Hampshire  I  addressed  Foster  a  letter  as  to 
our  future  course  of  action,  containing  these  few 
periods  : 

DEAR  STEPHEN  FOSTER — Perhaps  my  duty  has  been 
neglected  in  not  writing  to  you  in  my  absence  from 
our  field  of  labor.  I  will  now  endeavor  to  make  some 


290  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES. 

amends,  though  I  have  not  much  to  communicate.  To 
.soldiers  like  you  and  me,  recitals  of  sieges,  sorties,  or 
battles  are  not  interesting,  unless  rich  in  strange 
incident,  fearful  encounter,  terrible  suffering,  hair 
breadth  escape,  or  wondrous  victories.  So  I  do  not 
think  much  need  be  said  of  my  work  in  t'he  old  Bay 
state,  beyond  what  you  may  have  read  in  the  news 
papers. 

Still,  what  I  have  witnessed  and  experienced  in 
Essex,  Plymouth  and  Bristol  counties  makes  me  re 
luctant  to  leave  the  state  just  now,  but  I  must  come 
to  New  Hampshire.  Brother  Stephen,  the  granite 
rocks  must  echo  us  there  in  the  coming  months,  and 
the  hills  reply  as  we  sound  through  the  state  the  doc 
trines  of  universal  freedom  to  the  whole  brotherhood 
of  man.  They  call  you  and  me  "  dangerous  men." 
We  must  show  ourselves  such. 

Devise  some  plan,  if  you  can,  by  which  we  may  greatly 
improve  on  the  operations  of  the  past. 

If  we  scourged  a  pro-slavery  clergy  and  church 
with  whips  last  year,  let  us  this  year  lay  on  with  scor 
pions.  Let  us  make  every  hold  of  spiritual  tyranny 
send  up  its  death  shriek  as  we  flash  down  into  it  the 
lightning  of  eternal  truth,  and  roll  its  thunders  among 
its  darkest,  deepest  caverns.  Let  us  write  Tekel  over 
every  pro-slavery  pulpit  in  characters  of  flaming  fire, 
until  the  knees  of  every  reverend  Belshazzar  who  sits 
enthroned  on  it  shall  smite  together. 

Armed  with  the  truth  we  shall  be  omnipotent  ;  and 
the  hour  has  come.  The  groans  of  our  three  million 
bondmen  have  pierced  the  heavens,  and  the  arm  of 
the  Almighty  is  made  bare  as  of  old,  for  deliverance. 
With  faith  we  may  be  as  Moses  and  Joshua,  in  hasten 
ing  its  coming,  and  God  helping  us  we  will  be.  We 
are  prepared  to  be  scandalized  as  infidels,  and  reviled 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  29! 

as  the  enemies  of  man  and  God.  To  the  popular, 
prevailing  religion  we  are  infidels,  and  mean  to  be. 
Woe  to  such  as  are  not !  The  pulpit  of  our  land  saith 
in  its  heart,  "There  is  no  God."  It  is  corrupt.  It 
has  done  abominable  wickedness ;  and  so  has  the 
church,  which  is  its  own  handiwork. 

Our  religious  institutions  have  made 
themselves  the  body  guard  of  slavery.  We  cannot 
come  at  the  monster  but  through  them.  Let  us  not 
mistake  ;  a  pro-slavery  religion  must  be  hunted  out 
of  the  land  ;  too  long  has  it  cursed  the  earth.  It  has 
delighted  in  blood  and  tears  ;  it  has  fattened  on 
human  misery.  It  has  extorted  groans  and  wailings 
from  countless  victims,  but  its  own  hour  has  come  !  " 

This  letter  accomplished  mightier  results  than  could 
have  been  anticipated.  In  exactly  one  month  from 
the  day  of  writing  it,  the  answer  to  the  desire  that  he 
should  devise  some  new  method  by  which  we  could 
greatly  improve  on  our  past,  was  more  than  fore 
shadowed  in  his  heroic  and  masterly  entrance  into  the 
Concord  North  Church,  and  rising  with  all  the  dig 
nity  and  devotion  of  an  inspired  and  commissioned 
prophet  of  God,  demanded  to  be  heard  at  the  hour  of 
sermon,  in  behalf  of  the  millions  in  our  republican 
and  Christian  nation  who  were  grinding  in  the  prison- 
house  of  cheerless,  hopeless  and  interminable  bondage. 
Of  course  he  was  denied,  and  violently,  savagely 
thrust  out  of  the  synagogue. 

But  the  end  was  not  then  nor  there  ;  the  beneficent 
results  of  the  brave  act  shall  never  end.  In  that  hour, 
Foster  might  have  beheld  clerical  usurpation  and  dom 
ination,  so  lately,  so  audaciously  asserted  in  New 
Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut, 


292  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

and  exercised  in  other  states,  falling  like  "  Lucifer, 
son  of  the  morning,"  from  heaven  !  falling  to  rise  no 
more  !  t 

For  his  sublime  example  soon  began  to  be  imitated 
elsewhere,  and  a  martyr  period,  all  unexpected,  burst 
upon  us.  Satan  seemed  to  come  down  in  great  wrath, 
as  if  seeing  that  his  time  was  short.  This  generation 
knows  little  of  the  trials  experienced  by  the  faithful 
abolitionists  in  "those  times  that  tried  men's  souls,  and 
the  souls  of  women  as  well.  Indeed,  this  generation 
seems  to  know  little  of  what  slavery  was,  any  more 
than  what  was  genuine,  uncompromising  anti-slavery. 

The  first  to  follow  in  the  steps  of  Mr.  Foster  in  his 
new  movement,  were  two  plain,  honest,  but  earnest 
working  men,  mechanics  in  Littleton,  by  the  White 
Mountains.  Their  names  were  Nathaniel  Allen  and 
Erastus  Brown.  Both  were  heard,  but  subsequently 
arrested,  tried  and  consigned  as  felons,  to  Haverhill 
jail.  Readers  of  these  pages  have  heard  of  that  grim 
bastile  before  ;  and  of  Nat.  Allen  and  his  gift  of  a  new 
harness  to  the  anti-slavery  cause.  The  principal  vil 
lage  lawyer,  Mr.  Carlton,  volunteered  his  services  in 
their  behalf  ;  the  sympathies  of  the  community  were 
greatly  enlisted  in  their  favor.  Both  men  were  uni 
versally  respected  and  esteemed  ;  they  were  radical 
temperance  men,  and  non-resistants  ;  had  no  foes  out 
side  the  church,  and  were  both  model  husbands  and 
fathers,  as  well  as  kind  neighbors  and  faithful  friends. 

But  they  endeavored  to  "remember  them  that  were 
in  bonds,  as  bound  with  them,"  and  the  church  and 
ministry  waxed  exceeding  wroth  against  them.  They 
sought  to  do  unto  others,  especially  their  enslaved 
fellow  beings,  as  they  would  have  others  do  unto  them, 
and  the  church  and  pastor  haled  them  to  prison;  their 
wives  and  children  weeping  aloud  as  they  left  their 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  293 

homes.  Perhaps  the  church  and  pastor  thought,  ver 
ily,  that  they  were  doing  God  service  ;  at  any  rate, 
away  many  miles,  to  prison,  they  sent  them. 

And  while  in  confinement,  they  wrote  me  letters, 
worthy  the  persecuted  saints  of  other  times  ;  by 
Nero,  Torquemada  and  the  Inquisition.  These  pages 
are  hardly  worthy  a  few  brief  excerpts  of  their  con 
tents.  Allen  wrote  :  "  We  were  brought  here  at  the 
instigation  of  the  church  and  minister,  Mr.  Worcester, 
who,  as  you  will  recollect,  publicly  admonished  his 
people  that  "this  speaking  must  be  stopped''  But  I 
complain  not ;  I  am  better  off  than  those  for  whom  I 
plead.  I  am  happy  here,  and  think  I  may  be,  in 
whatever  situation  my  enemies  may  place  me.  We 
were  arrested  on  the  sixteenth  of  August  ;  our  trial 
was  quite  interesting  ;  some  of  our  citizens  spoke  very 
feelingly  in  our  behalf.  The  people  of  Littleton  out 
side  the  church,  and  a  portion  of  the  aristocracy,  think 
it  was  the  most  disgraceful  prosecution  that  was  ever 
enacted  in  the  town.  My  wife  and  children  feel  badly 
to  have  me  here,  but  I  suppose  the  church  thought  it 
would  be  for  the  glory  of  God.  *  I  trust 

it  will  result  in  good  ;  and  I  forgive  and  pray  God  to 
forgive  the  church  and  all  who  sent  us  here." 

In  another  letter  he  writes  :  "  If  we  had  but  some 
clean  straw  and  a  block  of  wood  for  our  heads,  it 
would  add  very  much  to  our.  comfort.  But  I  will  find 
no  fault.  I  was  never  more  happy  in  mind  than  at 
present.  Tell  our  friends,  especially  those  whom, our 
absence  most  affects,  that  our  situation  is  rather 
pleasant  than  otherwise." 

To  Mrs.  Allen  he  wrote  :  "  True,  our  situation, 
filthy  and  over-run  with  vermin  though  it  be,  is  more 
tolerable  than  I  expected,  so  give  yourself  no  un 
necessary  anxiety  on  my  account.  I  am  comfortable 


294  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

and  contented.  More  than  that,  I  am  unusually 
happy,  and  believe  I  shall  continue  so,  however  long 
I  may  remain  here." 

Mr.  Brown  wrote  under  date, 

HAVKRHILL  JAIL,  August  30,  1842. 

BROTHER  PILLSBURY — I  greet  you  through  the 
bolted  doors  and  grated  windows  of  Grafton  county 
jail.  Brother  Allen  and  myself  are  con 

fined  here  for  the  crime  of  opening  our  mouths  for 
the  dumb  and  suffering  of  our  common  humanity,  un 
bidden  by  any  except  our  Savior.  I  am  filled  with 
strange  emotions  when  finding  myself,  for  the  first 
time  in  my  life,  incarcerated  within  prison  walls.  A 
favored  opportunity  for  remembering  them  that  are  in 
bonds.  *  I  cast  my  eyes  around,  and  con 

trast  the  dismal  aspect  of  my  half-lighted,  barred  and 
bolted  cell  (where,  as  I  am  assured,  deeds  of  darkness 
have  been  indeed  done,  for  two  men  were  murdered, 
we  are  told,  in  this  room,  by  a  third  named  Burnham, 
all  three  confined  only  for  debt,)  with  the  inimitable 
beauties  spread  out  in  the  vast  expanse  between  us 
and  the  setting  sun,  now  darting  his  last  rays  far  up 
a  cloudless  sky  ;  though  I  do  not  feel  like  saying  much 
about  myself  nor  of  my  situation  when  I  think  of  the 
poor,  wretched  victims  of  hate  or  jealousy  who  have 
suffered,  or  are  now  suffering,  within  these  filthy  dun 
geons,  treatment  which  should  mantle  with  the  blush 
of  shame  any  human  face  that  witnesses  it  inflicted 
even  on  a  brute  beast.  *  We  are  in  a  cell 

with  a  young  man  who  tells  us  he  has  been  confined 
more  than  a  year  on  charge  of  theft,  of  which  he  de 
clares  he  is  innocent,  antl  I  believe  he  is.  He  has 
been  in  this  cell  four  months,  and  says  it  is  a  heaven 
compared  with  the  loathsome  den  underneath  where 
he  lingered  eight  months  !  He  was  only  removed 
from  it  on  account  of  declining  health.  It  is  sad  to 
hear  the  low,  murmuring  sound  of  human  voices  from 
distant  cells,  as  they  occasionally  come  up  to  our 
room-mate  through  a  small  hole  iii  the  huge  barred 
and  bolted  door  or  grated  window,  through  which  the 
scarcely  audible  voices  can  be  heard  as  if  in  supplica- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  295 

tion  from  the  lower  world  !  I  regret  our 

confinement,  not  so  much  for  ourselves  as  on  account 
of  the  inconvenience,  anxiety  and  privation  it  causes 
our  families,  who  need  our  presence  and  assistance, 
and  the  remorse  it  must  yet  cause  our  accusers  and 
those  who  stood  by  them  when  they  sent  us  here. 
Walking  my  cell  in  silence,  and  contemplating  the 
various  pains  and  penalties  which  professed  Christians 
have  inflicted  on  their  fellow  beings,  (for  the  glory  of 
God,  we  must  suppose,)  and  the  cruel  privations  and 
sufferings  endured  by  the  body  for  the  good  of  the  soul, 
I  am  led  to  exclaim:  "Is  this,  then,  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ?  Is  this  the  doctrine  of  Him  who  came 
to  teach  forgiveness  of  injuries — the  love  of  enemies? 
Is  this  what  He  meant  by  undoing  heavy  burdens, 
and  opening  the  prison  doors  of  them  who  were 
bound  ?  and  when  He  said,  '  If  ye  forgive  not  men 
their  trespasses,  neither  will  your  heavenly  Father  for 
give  yours  ?":  Each  morning  I  rise  from  my  pallet 
of  straw,  or  rather  of  chaff  and  vermin,  with  the  very 
kindest  feelings  toward  my  persecutors,  and  unabated 
zeal  in  behalf  of  the  slaves  ;  and  I  remain  your  friend, 
as  ever,  ERASTUS  BROWN. 

These  few  periods,  from  letters  of  Allen  and  Brown, 
show  what  manner  of  spirit  they  were  of,  and  what 
was  their  condition  while  in  prison  as  to  body  and 
spirit.  It  is  most  remarkably  true  that  persons  sent 
innocently  to  prison,  as  were  these  two  brave  men, 
always  become  deeply  interested  in  their  fellow-pris 
oners,  whether  guilty  of  crime  or  otherwise.  It  is  not 
strange,  then,  that  my  friend  Brown,  one  of  the  truest, 
bravest,  most  humane  men  who  ever  lived,  should 
deeply  sympathize  with  the  young  man,  whether  inno 
cent  or  otherwise,  who  had  already  suffered  the  pains- 
and  pangs  of  a  dozen  ordinary  deaths,  before  guilt 
had  been  proved  or  innocence  admitted.  And  many 
called  Brown  insane.  Some  of  his  accusers  deemed  it 
charitable  to  think  or  say  that  he  was  not  in  his  right 
mind  when  he  persisted  in  opening  his  mouth  for  the 


296  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

dumb,  and  for  him  who  had  no  friend  nor  defense  in 
the  Sunday  assemblies  of  his  oppressors  and  en 
slavers.  Doubtless,  many  said,  "  He  hath  a  devil,  and 
is  mad,"  and  so  they  shut  him  in  jail,  knowing  well 
the  kind  of  cells  they  kept  for  the  heinous  crime  of  in 
sanity  !  I  felt  at  the  time  that  Allen  and  Brown  were 
the  sanest  men  in  Littleton,  unless  their  counsel,  Mr. 
Carlton,  was  an  exception.  Both  men  have  been  dead 
many  years,  but  they  saw  the  death-blow  given  to 
slavery,  and  departed  universally  respected  and  deeply 
lamented  by  their  families  and  friends.  Their  con 
finement  lasted  but  sixteen  days ;  though  their  re 
lease,  like  that  of  Jeremiah,  the  Hebrew  prophet,  was 
by  the  civil,  not  the  ecclesiastical,  authority. 

But  the  powers  that  ruled  in  the  church,  mistook 
entirely  the  character  of  the  abolitionists.  Had  they 
shown  themselves  and  their  discipleship  to  be  follow 
ers  of  him  who  came  "  preaching  deliverence  to  the 
captive,  undoing  the  heavy  burdens  and  letting  the 
oppressed  go  free,"  and  breaking  yokes,  instead  of 
laying  them  mercilessly  on  the  shoulders  of  men  and 
of  women,  and  on  their  children  after  them,  in  succes 
sive  generations,  there  need  have  been  no  other  aboli 
tionists,  no  other  emancipation.  In  one  word,  had 
the  church  and  ministry  been,  in  any  true  sense,  an 
anti-slavery,  a  temperance,  and  a  peace  society,  there 
never  would  have  been  any  other,  nor  need  of  any 
other,  nor  room  for  any  other. 

But  the  church  was  neither  of  these,  and  so  those 
associations  had  to  appear,  to  save  even  the  church 
and  pulpit  themselves  from  the  guilt  of  all  these  evils. 
And  the  first  and  sternest  work  of  the  abolitionists 
was  to  loose  the  bands  of  wickedness  in  the  church, 
especially  such  as  prevented  approach  to  the  people 
with  the  claims  of  the  enslaved  millions  in  our  own 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  297 

boasted  republican  and  Christian  land.  That  one 
fact  proved  the  truth  and  justice  of  Judge  Birney's 
tract,  "  The  American  Churches  the  Bulwarks  of 
American  Slavery." 

The  government  had  decreed  slavery,  including  the 
right  of  the  slaveholder  to  call  on  the  whole  north  to 
defend  him  against  slave  insurrection,  and  to  aid  him 
in  recapturing  his  fugitive  slaves,  who  might  take 
shelter  under  any  friendly  roof  ;  with  heavy  pains  and 
penalties  for  attempting  to  shield  them  from  their 
tyrant  pursuers.  The  supreme  court  had  declared  all 
this  to  be  the  exact  meaning  of  the  words  of  the  con 
stitution. 

Then  the  church,  everywhere  in  the  country,  had 
pronounced  the  same  system  of  all  unutterable  cruel 
ties,  abominations  and  wickedness  to  be  in  exact  ac 
cordance  with  the  will  of  God,  as  revealed  in  the 
scriptures  of  both  Old  and  New  Testament. 

And  the  church,  or  rather  the  clergy,  presumed  on 
one  step  farther.  The  federal  constitution  has  some 
thing  to  say  about  the  right  of  the  people  "  peaceably 
to  assemble"  for  any  proper  purpose.  The  pulpit, 
far  and  wide,  proclaimed  to  the  extent  of  its  spiritual 
jurisdiction  and  influence,  that  abolitionists  had  no 
such  rights,  and  for  a  time  the  government  sanctioned 
such  a  ruling,  and,  as  has  just  been  shown,  loaned  its 
prisons  for  enforcing  it. 

For  it  should  be  kept  in  memory  that  Mr.  Foster 
never  invaded  a  religious  assembly  against  its  own 
usages,  till  the  proclamation  had  gone  forth  that  lec 
turers  had  no  right  to  enter  a  parish,  not  a  meeting 
house,  without  the  pastoral  consent  and  approval. 
Not  till  long  after  that  audacious  decree  had  had  its 
dire  result  in  keeping  the  people,  especially  the  church 

membership,  from  entering  the  anti-slavery  meetings, 

19 


298  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

free  as  they  almost  invariably  were  of  entrance,  and 
of  speech,  as  well.  And  it  required  many  a  prosecu 
tion,  fine,  imprisonment  and  other  gross  outrages,  to 
break  down  that  formidable  "bulwark"  and  give  the 
proclamation  of  liberty  free  course  to  run  and  be 
glorified. 

But  the  strength  of  the  anointed  ones  became  equal 
to  their  day  and  its  duties,  and  their  courage  and  faith 
to  its  dangers  and  endurances. 

The  imprisonment  of  Brown  and  Allen  awakened  a 
similar  zeal  in  many  others,  both  in  New  Hampshire 
and  Massachusetts.  Perhaps  it  is  true  to  say  that  in 
those  two  states,  the  hardest  battle  with  the  ecclesias 
tical  power,  and  so  the  severest  of  the  whole  conflict, 
was  fought. 

The  jails  of  Newburyport  and  Salem,  Massachu 
setts,  were  several  times  honored  by  the  entrance  and 
detention  for  longer  or  shorter  periods,  of  the  victims 
of  pro-slavery  spleen  and  spite.  I  think  in  every  in 
stance  church  members  not  only  instigating,  but  ac 
tually  prosecuting  the  suits.  Even  the  county  house 
of  Essex  county  was  put  in  requisition  for  the  same 
unrighteous  purpose.  The  offender  in  that  instance 
was  a  woman,  Mrs.  Almira  Swett,  of  Georgetown.  In 
a  somewhat  voluminous  history  of  Essex  county,  pub 
lished  in  1878,  mention  is  made  of  the  anti-slavery 
operations  in  Georgetown,  and  the  following  is  ex 
tracted  from  the  account : 

No  movement  in  Georgetown  was  ever  of  a  more 
stirring  or  important  character  than  that  of  the  early 
agitation  of  the  question  of  anti-slavery.  In  it  were 
enlisted  many  men  and  women  whose  hearts  were  fully 
committed  to  the  agitation.  Among  the  leaders  in 
the  reform  were  Theodore  G.  Elliot,  Moses  Wright, 
James  H.,  Asa  W.  and  Almira  Swett,  and  others.  The 
speakers  frequently  heard  were  William  Lloyd  Garri- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  299 

son,  Frederick  Douglass,  Wendell  Phillips,  Parker 
Pillsbury,  and  the  long  line  of  the  advocates  of  that 
cause.  They  carried  the  discussion  to  the  doors  of  the 
churches,  which  were  then  committed  to  silence.  Rev. 
Mr.  Braman  was  unfriendly  to  the  agitation,  which 
added  warmth  and  interest  to  the  debates.  These 
speakers  were  bold  and  incisive  in  their  utterances, 
which  made  the  conflict  between  them  and  the  con 
servatives,  as  they  were  called,  warm.  Mrs.  Swett 
was  one  of  the  boldest  of  the  female  supporters  of  the 
cause,  and  when  she  attended  church  she  was  accus 
tomed  to  take  her  knitting  work  with  her,  which  led 
her  to  be  arrested  for  contempt  of  worship.  For  this 
and  for  the  defense  of  her  brother,  who  was  before  the 
church  for  waywardness  on  this  subject,  she  was  ar 
rested  and  tried,  being  charged  in  the  forms  of  law 
with  "assault  and  battery."  She  was  convicted  and 
sent  to  Ipswich.  When  arrested,  she  told  the  officers 
she  "  could  not  leave  home  at  that  time  ;  that  her 
family  needed  her  attention."  She  offered  no  resist 
ance,  simply  declining  to  comply  with  the  request  of 
the  officer.  Assistance  was  procured,  and  Mrs.  Swett 
was  lifted  into  the  sleigh  and  carried  into  the  court 
room  in  the  same  way.  After  trial  and  conviction 
she  was  borne  back  to  the  sleigh  and  carried  to  Ips 
wich,  but  the  keeper  of  the  "  House  of  Correction" 
declined  to  receive  her,  declaring  that  those  who  had 
brought  her  there  deserved  more  than  she  to  be  re 
tained.  The  meetings  of  the  Come-outers  were  held 
on  the  steps  of  churches,  in  groves,  and  in  barns. 
Thomas  P.  Beach  was  once  rotten-egged  while 
speaking  from  the  steps  of  a  church.  To  avoid  this 
indignity  in  barns,  the  women  were  seated  and  the 
speaker  stationed  before  them,  when  the  doors  were 
opened  to  accommodate  the  listening  crowd  without. 

It  has  been  intimated  in  early  parts  of  this  work 
that  the  course  of  Mr.  Foster  and  others  in  entering 
the  meeting  houses  during  Sunday  services  and  asking 
or  claiming  the  right  to  be  heard  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  did  not  meet  the  approval  of  Mr.  Garrison  nor 
many  of  the  most  prominent  abolitionists.  But  the 


300  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

sin,  if  it  were  sin,  was  like  some  of  the  psalms  ;  one  of 
"degrees."  All  anti-slavery  meetings  would  have 
been  prevented  if  possible,  at  the  north,  as  they  were 
actually  at  the  south.  The  northern  pulpits  forbade 
them  just  as  far  as  they  had  the  power.  Edward 
Everett,  a  clergyman,  when  made  governor  of  Massa 
chusetts,  said  in  his  message  to  the  legislature,  refer 
ring  to  anti-slavery  meetings  and  measures  :  "What 
ever  by  direct  and  necessary  operation  is  calculated 
to  excite  insurrection  among  the  slaves,  has  been  held 
by  highly  respectable  legal  authority,  an  offense  against 
the  people  of  the  commonwealth^  which  may  be  prose 
cuted  as  misdemeanor,  at  common  law.  The  patriotism 
of  all  classes  must  be  invoked  to  abstain  from  discus 
sion,  which  by  exasperating  the  master,  can  have  no 
other  effect  than  to  render  more  oppressive  the  con 
dition  of  the  slave." 

But  no  abolitionist  worthy  the  name,  held,  or 
attended  one  meeting  the  less  for  any  threats  of  gov 
ernors,  ministers  or  mobs.  And  what  wonder  that 
some  went  so  far,  in  the  name  and  spirit  of  New 
Testament  Christian  liberty,  as  to  believe  it  their  sol 
emn  duty  as  well  as  natural  right  to  enter  any  Chris 
tian  assembly  to  plead  the  cause  of  down-trodden  and 
bestialized  humanity  ? 

And  women  not  unfrequently  carried  their  knitting 
work,  as  men  did  their  novel  or  newspaper  into  the 
cars,  and  entertained  themselves  as  best  they  might 
while  they  rode  along.  Women  did  the  same  at  con 
ventions,  and  do  still  ;  and  more  than  Georgetown 
women  did  the  same  thing  at  the  Sunday  meetings  as 
their  testimony  and  rebuke  against  the  solemn  mock 
ery,  of  a  worship  that  in  long  sermons  apologized  for 
slave-holders  and  proved  their  right  to  hold  slaves, 
both  by  patriarchal  example  and  the  divine  approval 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  JOI 

in  Old  and  New  Testament  precept  and  permission. 
And  they  had  other  motives,  the  same  as  were  preached, 
and  practiced  too,  by  Martin  Luther,  when  he  wrote 
to  his  converts  ;  "  If  any  set  up  sabbath  observance 
on  a  Jewish  foundation,  or  for  the  mere  day's  sake, 
then  I  order  you  to  work  on  it,  to  ride  on  it,  to  dance 
on  it,  or  to  do  anything  on  it  that  shall  reprove  this 
encroachment  on  the  Christian  spirit  and  liberty." 
Calvin  and  the  Fathers  of  the  reformation  did  the 
same.  The  taste  of  such  things  may  be  questionable, 
especially  judged  by  modern  standards.  But  the 
right  is  another  affair.  Daniel  Webster  somewhere 
said  he  might  have  rights  concerning  which,  ordinarily, 
he  should  feel  little  interest ;  but  let  one  of  the  least 
of  those  rights  be  invaded  or  threatened,  and  he 
declared  he  would  plant  himself  on  its  extremest  verge 
and  contend  for  it  to  the  death  ;  as  who  would  not  ? 
Mrs.  Swett  testified  against  the  mockery  of  a  worship 
that  would  not  plead  for  the  slave,  nor  permit  others 
to  do  it,  by  quietly  sitting  down  with  her  knitting 
work  in  front  and  full  view  of  the  minister.  Her 
brother  rose  in  his  place  and  bore  testimony  in  the 
same  behalf  by  word  of  mouth  ;  and  both  acted  from 
religious  sense  of  duty  ;  and  doubtless,  with  as  lofty 
spirit  of  devotion  as  ever  actuated  the  heart  of  John 
Calvin  or  Martin  Luther,  or  the  most  saintly  of  their 
disciples. 

When  Boston  was  sending  back  fugitive  slaves, 
armed  citizen  soldiers  were  brought  from  distant 
towns  in  Massachusetts,  and  Faneuil  hall  was  turned 
into  barracks  for  their  accommodation,  to  protect  the 
slave-hunters  and  their  accomplices  while  they  seized 
their  prey,  proved  property  and  triumphantly  bore  it 
away.  It  might  have  been  in  questionable  taste,  but 
it  certainly  was  a  testimony  of  stunning  force,  when, 


302  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

at  a  great  grove  anti-slavery  gathering  on  a  Fourth  of 
July,  Mr.  Garrison,  holding  a  copy  of  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States  in  his  hand,  literally  and  deliber 
ately  set  it  on  fire  and  consumed  it,  to  the  delight,  as 
well  as  with  the  approval  of  thousands  who  sat  or 
stood  around  him. 

That  constitution  was  the  pledge  and  solemn  guar 
anty  from  the  north  to  the  south  that  any  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  slave  to  escape  from  his  bondage,  by 
righting  or  by  flight,  should  be  resisted  by  the  north, 
at  whatever  cost  of  treasure  or  blood.  What  better 
did  such  a  constitution  deserve  than  to  be  branded  as 
"a  covenant  with  death,  and  an  agreement  with  hell," 
and  to  be  burned  with  fire  before  all  the  people  ?  And 
what  day  so  appropriate  for  such  auto  da  //,  as  the 
Fourth  of  July  ?  And  who  so  worthy  to  officiate  at 
the  altar  of  sacrifice  as  William  Lloyd  Garrison  ? 

And  thus  did  earnest,  brave  men  and  women  of 
varied  description  as  to  culture,  calling  and  sense  of 
propriety,  seek  to  subserve  the  interests  of  their  com 
mon  humanity  by  such  methods  and  measures  as 
seemed  right  in  their  sight. 

Arrests  and  imprisonments  were  frequent,  some 
times  for  actual  offense,  sometimes  for  being  present 
and  approving  the  act.  The  names  of  several  are 
before  me  ;  most  of  them  now  numbered  with  the 
departed:'  Prominent  among  them,  as  to  order  of  ar 
rest,  or  length  of  imprisonment,  were  Jesse  P.  Harri- 
man,  of  Danvers,  Massachusetts,  and  Thomas  Parnell 
Beach,  a  native  of  Vermont,  but  Congregational  min 
ister  in  New  Hampshire,  for  several  years,  or  till  he, 
as  heretofore  described,  identified  himself  with  the 
anti-slavery  cause.  His  great  labors  and  severe  suf 
ferings,  by  imprisonments  and  otherwise,  chiefly  in 
New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts,  early  broke  him 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  303 

down,  and  compelled  him  to  retire  from  the  conflict. 
Having  relatives  in  Ohio,  he  removed  with  his  family 
to  that  state,  and  when  able,  was  successfully  em 
ployed  as  a  teacher.  But  in  the  year  1846,  he  was 
released  to  his  well-earned  rest  and  reward,  when  only 
thirty- eight  years  of  age.  His  longest  and  severest 
confinement  was  in  Newburyport  jail,  where  he  was 
kept  three  months,  in  the  winter  of  the  years  1841  and 
1842.  He  was  arrested  for  attempting  to  speak  in 
two  Sunday  meetings,  one  in  Danvers,  the  other  at 
Lynn.  For  the  double  purpose  of  showing  the  spirit 
and  temper  of  the  accused,  and  the  nature  of  their 
offenses,  I  will  first  permit  one  of  them  to  speak  for 
himself,  through  his  prison  bars.  While  in  confine 
ment,  Harriman  wrote  a  number  of  letters  to  the  Her 
ald  of  Freedom,  and  the  following  are  excerpts  from 
two  of  them,  dated  : 

SALEM  JAIL,  Sept.  24  and  27,  1842. 

DEAR  BROTHER  ROGERS — I  write  from  within  the 
granite  walls  of  a  loathsome  prison.  A  rather  singu 
lar  place  to  put  non-resistants,  but  so  it  is,  and  I  sub 
mit  with  meekness.  Oh,  God,  enable  me  to  forgive 
my  enemies  !  This  is  what  I  want  to  feel.  I  can  as 
sure  them  I  will  never  be  the  means  of  sending  them 
here,  or  to  any  similar  place. 

But  the  question  may  be  asked,  how  came  you  im 
prisoned  ?  I  answer,  through  the  instigation  of  the 
church,  either  directly  or  indirectly.  Let  us  see  if  it 
be  not  so: 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  it  was  Sunday,  Thomas  P. 
Beach  felt  it  his  duty  to  go  into  the  Baptist  meeting 
house,  at  Danvers,  New  Mills,  and  speak  in  behalf  of 
the  down-trodden  slaves,  our  three  millions  of  Christian 
heathen  !  He  went,  and  when  there  was  an  interval 
in  their  wicked  worship,  (I  think  it  wicked),  he  rose 
and  began  to  speak.  The  committee,  Black  and  Cald- 
well,  fell  upon  him  and  dragged  him  from  the  house 
with  great  violence.  He  was  then  prosecuted  for  go- 


304  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

ing  into  the  house.  The  officer  came  to  my  house  on 
Sunday  and  arrested  him.  He  commanded  me  in  the 
name  of  the  commonwealth  to  help  him.  I  utterly  re 
fused.  My  answer  was,  in  the  name  of  God,  I  refuse.  So 
I  am  here  for  not  helping  to  drag  Brother  Beach  from 
my  own  dwelling.  And  I  now  say  to  the  world,  I 
will  never  commit  such  a  sin,  though,  as  a  result, 
bonds  and  imprisonments  should  ever  await  me. 

But  how  has  the  church  been  the  instigator  of  my 
imprisonment  ?  They  have  sanctioned  all  the  doings 
of  those  who  put  me  here.  How  did  Saul  assist  when 
Stephen  was  stoned  to  death?  He  did  not  cast  one 
stone  at  him.  But  he  kept  the  raiment  of  those  who 
did.  To  this  hour,  not  one  of  the  New  Mills  church 
has  visited  me,  except  my  wife  and  Mrs.  Porter,  who 
lives  in  our  house.  One  of  the  old  members  took 
friend  Black  by  the  hand,  after  he  had  dragged  Beach 
from  the  meeting-house,  and  said  :  "  Major  Black, 
you  have  my  hearty  thanks  for  what  you  have  done." 
Black  testified  to  this  under  oath,  before  John  W. 
Proctor.  That  church  has  never  shown  to  the  world 
that  they  were  opposed  to  the  proceedings  in  the  case 
of  Brother  Beach  or  myself.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
have  shown  to  all  around  them  that  they  are  in  full 
fellowship  with  our  being  in  jail.  The 

scripture  saith  :  "The  name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong 
tower  :  the  righteous  runneth  into  it  and  is  safe." 
But  the  church  goes  to  the  state  for  protection. 

Will  the  church  of  the  blessed  Savior  cast  into 
prison,  or  uphold  slavery  and  war  ?  Never  !  Christ 
said,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 
Thomas  P.  Beach  is  now  in  Newburyport  jail,  on  two 
indictments.  One  by  the  Baptist  church  and  society 
in  Danvers,  William  Black  acting  as  their  tool.  After 
he  had  caused  a  writ  to  be  issued  against  Brother 
Beach,  and  the  officers  had  come  to  my  house  and 
taken  him,  he  seemed  to  repent.  At  any  rate,  he  sent 
and  withdrew  the  complaint,  and  Beach  was  set  at 
liberty.  I  saw  Black  the  same  day,  and  he  said,  in 
front  of  my  house,  "  I  am  sorry  I  had  anything  to  do 
with  this.  I  should  not,  only  that  I  was  excited.  I 
would  rather  have  given  ten  dollars  than  made  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  305 

complaint."  To  another  person  he  said  :  "I  went  to 
the  Baptist  meeting  to  see  the  fun."  Then,  when  the 
complaint  was  renewed,  he  went  before  (Justice) 
Proctor,  and  stated,  under  oath,  that  he  made  the 
complaint  as  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  town.  And 
when  Mr.  Proctor  commented  on  his  testimony  he 
.said,  "  Mr.  Black  is  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  town, 
and  his  testimony,  on  that  account,  is  entitled  to  more 
weight,"  or  words  to  that  effect.  What,  friend  Rog 
ers,  do  you  think  the  children  of  such  a  town  must 
be,  from  such  a  father?" 

The  other  indictment  against  Beach  is  from  the 
Quaker  society  at  Lynn.  I  saw  the  whole  transac 
tion — heard  Beach  speak,  heard  the  uproar,  and  saw, 
with  astonishment,  those  worshiping  Quakers  thrown 
into  whirlwinds  of  passion.  The  spirit  seemed  to  move 
them  with  great  violence.  How  James  P.  Boyce  and 
other  professed  abolitionists  can  remain  in  that  wicked 
body,  I  do  not  know.  This  thee  and  thou  religion 
seems  to  me  not  worth  having.  Boyce  sat  looking,  at 
the  time  of  the  outrage  on  Beach,  with  a  complacency 
to  me  unaccountable.  Had  it  been  in  any  other  than 
a  Quaker  meeting-house,  he  would  have  cried  "  Sec 
tarianism  !  Priestcraft  !  "  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  I 
would,  in  all  kindness,  advise  him  and  James  N.  Buf- 
fum  to  begin  a  little  reform  in  their  own  society  be 
fore  crying  "  Priestcraft  "  so  much  abroad. 
Thomas  Parnell  Beach  now  lies  in  Newburyport  jail, 
for  speaking  in  the  Quaker  meeting-house,  at  Lynn, 
in  behalf  of  our  millions  of  oppressed  and  bleeding 
slaves.  And  what  good  does  it  do  the  cause  of  God 
to  go  to  that  house  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and 
-sit  there  mute  as  dumb  dogs?  Why  are  not  Boyce 
and  Buffum  mute  in  meetings  out  of  town  ?  How 
happens  that  the  spirit  moves  them  to  speak  in  all 
other  places  but  that  Quaker  bastile  ?  I 

feel,  and  the  slaves  must  feel,  that  it  is  high  time  that 
Quaker  nest  were  stirred  up.  *  *  I  write 
this  rough  letter  in  Salem  jail,  on  Sunday  night, 
between  seven  and  eight  o'clock,  with  my  Bible  one 
side  of  me,  and  your  Herald  of  Freedom,  on  the  other, 


306  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

and  why  may  I  not  speak  out  ?  I  write  amid  granite 
walls  and  iron  bolts  and  bars.  I  am  a  slave,  shut  in 
here  ;  so  bear  with  me  a  little  longer  as  your  brother 
in  bonds,  JESSE  P.  HARRIMAN. 

Such  was  the  faithfulness  with  which  abolitionists 
were  in  those  perilous  days  accustomed  to  deal  with 
one  another,  no  matter  how  dear  to  each  other,  nor 
how  prominent  in  position  or  influence.  But  it  so 
turned  out  that  our  true-hearted  friend  Harriman 
received  in  the  same  paper  with  his  faithful  reproofs 
of  Boyce  and  Buffum,  an  announcement  which  must 
have  cheered  and  encouraged  him  greatly  in  his 
lonely  cell.  Beach,  too,  heard  the  same  glad  tidings 
down  in  his  Newburyport  confinement,  showing  him 
that  his  work  among  the  Quakers  of  Lynn  had  already 
borne  glorious  fruit  among  the  most  noble  and  intelli 
gent  young  men  and  women  in  the  society  ;  for  on  the 
next  page  of  the  Herald  containing  his  letter,  Mr. 
Harriman  read  the  following  incidental  notice  of 
James  Buffum,  by  Mr.  Rogers,  giving  account  of  a  five 
days'  Strafford  county  anti-slavery  meeting  held  at 
Great  Falls  : 

Our  gallant  friend,  James  N.  Buffum,  of  Lynn,  was 
at  our  Great  Falls  meeting  and  afforded  the  usual  aid 
and  interest  derived  from  his  originality,  good  sense, 
and  excellent  simplicity  of  heart.  Friend  Buffum  is 
not  a  lecturer  ;  he  is  better ;  he  is  a  talker  ;  though 
his  talk  very  often  rises  into  the  most  effectual  elo 
quence  of  speech.  Give  us  enough  such  talkers  and 
we  will  talk  the  infernal  slave  system  out  of  the  sym 
pathy  of  everybody  who  has  humanity  enough  left  to 
pass  muster  among  mankind.  Our  imprisoned  brother 
Harriman  calls  on  friend  Buffum  to  deal  impartially 
with  Quakerism  at  home  in  Lynn,  as  he  does  with  sect 
abroad.  I  can  gladden  friend  Harriman's  heart  by 
the  fact  that  James  Buffum  has  already,  or  is  about 
doing  it,  renounced  that  broad-hatted  type  of  secta 
rianism  and  given  it  over  to  Satan,  with  the  faithful 
intrepidity  of  a  Come-outer. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  307 

Before  returning  to  the  Harriman  and  Beach  arrest 
and  imprisonment,  it  will  be  pertinent  and  profitable 
to  introduce  a  brief  extract  from  the  history  of  Lynn, 
as  found  in  the  late,  large,  and  generally  valuable 'his 
tory  of  the  county  of  Essex,  Massachusetts.  The 
reasons  for  it  will  be  apparent  in  subsequent  pages. 
The  extract  is  as  follows  : 

The  year  1841  is  to  be  remembered  in  Lynn  as  the 
time  of  a  fresh  efflux  of  free  thought  exhibited  by 
what  became  widely  known  as  the  "  come -outers." 
These  people  were  primarily  Garrisonian  abolitionists, 
starting  with  the  unimpeachable  doctrine  of  human 
equality  before  the  law.  But  not  finding  the  cause  of 
the  slave  well  espoused  by  most  of  the  religious  bodies 
of  that  day,  they  unwisely  pronounced  all  the  churches, 
in  league  with  Slavery,  and  called  for  good  men  and 
women  to  come  out  and  testify  against  them.  Hence 
the  name,  come-outers.  They  were  not  confined  to 
Lynn,  but  they  had  a  strong  position  here,  being 
upheld  by  such  men  as  Christopher  Robinson,  Jona 
than  Buff  urn  and  others,  men  of  private  and  public 
excellence  apart  from  the  delusion  here  sustained. 
The  real  mischief  was  from  without,  as  will  appear. 
On  a  Sunday  in  1841,  they  rallied  here  in  force,  deter 
mined  to  try  a  bold,  though  foolish  movement.  The 
people  in  general  knew  nothing  of  it  ;  but  there  were 
in  town,  Stephen  S.  Foster,  Nathaniel  P.  Rogers, 
Parker  Pillsbury,  Thomas  P.  Beach,  Henry  Clapp,  Jr., 
and  many  others,  full  of  bitter  words  and  martyr 
spirit.  Dividing  into  parties,  they  repaired  to  several 
of  the  churches  of  the  largest  congregations,  entered 
without  ceremony,  and  interrupted  the  services  with 
excited  harangues.  Foster  led  off  at  the  first  church  ; 
Dr.  Cook  commanded  him  to  "  sit  down  ; "  but  as  he 
paid  no  heed,  half  a  dozen  men  quietly  seized  him 
and  carried  him  out,  passive  as  a  log,  and  set  him  on 
the  side-walk,  his  mates  following.  Pillsbury  at  the 
same  time,  headed  an  attack  on  the  Baptists  ;  and 
proving  more  troublesome,  was  shut  up  in  a  closet 
and  detained  till  the  end  of  service.  Afternoon,  noth 
ing  daunted,  Beach  entered  the  First  Methodist 


308  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

church  alone,  leaped  the  altar-rail  during  the  last 
prayer,  and  began  to  talk.  No  questions  were  asked, 
for  the  thing  was  well  noised  about  and  Methodist 
blood  is  not  given  to  hesitation  ;  in  a  minute,  Beach 
was  going  "neck  and  heels,"  and  struggling  smartly, 
down  the  aisle  and  steps,  more  being  willing  to  help 
than  could  get  a  chance.  He  claimed  that  his  thumb 
was  broken  in  the  affray,  but  it  was  not  credited. 
Some  of  the  others  had  visited  the  Quaker  meeting  in 
the  morning,  and  finding  opportunity,  without  inter 
rupting  others,  had  spoken  and  been  sharply  rebuked 
in  turn  ;  but  no  conflict  happened  there.  About  six 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Lyceum  Hall  was  opened, 
and  they  made  a  demonstration  of  their  own,  where 
probably  more  harshness,  more  invective,  more 
unreason,  were  poured  out  within  an  hour,  than  most 
ever  hear  in  a  lifetime.  But  there  was  no  more  dis 
turbance  ;  Foster  ranted  to  small  crowds  about  the 
streets  for  a  few  days,  not  much  noticed,  and  then 
disappeared.  Others  made  some  trouble  for  them 
selves,  elsewhere,  and  their  printed  effusions  were 
abundant  in  Lynn  ;  but  their  strength  was  all  gone  in 
that  one  effort. 

The  foregoing  has  at  least  the  virtue  of  brevity. 
But  for  truthfulness,  if  this  be  a  sample  of  his  whole" 
work,  it  certainly  is  fortunate  for  Lynn  that  Mr.  Cy 
rus  M.  Tracy  is  not  her  only  historian.  His  first 
mistake  is  as  to  time  ;  He  should  have  made  it  1842. 
The  second  relates  to  number  of  speakers  who  "  ral 
lied  in  force."  Only  four  came,  and  but  two  of  them 
spoke  in  any  of  the  churches,  or  attempted  to  speak  ; 
the  other  two  believed  in  the  right  of  their  companions 
to  speak,  under  the  circumstances,  in  any  Christian 
assembly,  only  observing  the  apostolic  rules  of  decency 
and  order  ;  and  as  Beach  and  Foster  felt  it  their 
religious  duty  more  than  right,  to  do  as  they  did,  Mr. 
Rogers  and  I  accompanied  them  in  part  of  their 
attempts  to  be  heard  on  that  memorable  occasion. 
We  were  all  present  at  the  Congregational  meeting- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  309, 

house,  and  saw  Mr.  Foster  dragged  out  as  a  wolf 
might  have  been  from  a  fold,  though  hardly  by  the 
sheep  and  lambs  themselves.  But  we  did  not  go  to 
the  Baptist  house  at  all  till  we  saw  him,  from  the  other 
side  of  the  common,  dragged  by  a  furious  crowd  down 
the  steps,  and  thrown  violently  to  the  ground,  and, 
as  afterwards  appeared,  quite  severely  hurt. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  these  methods  were 
not  adopted  at  all  till  every  possible  means  had  been 
used,  from  fairest  to  foulest,  to  prevent  our  access  to 
the  people,  and  more  especially  to  the  churches.  Nor 
was  Lynn,  by  a  great  way,  the  first  attempt.  Nor  was 
there  anything  peculiar  about  the  movements  there, 
except  in  their  greater  number  on  one  day,  and  in  one 
place. 

On  Saturday,  the  25th  of  June,  1842,  Mr.  Rogers 
and  I  went  to  Lynn  and  called  at  the  very  hospitable 
home  of  Jonathan  and  Hannah  Buffum,  intending  to 
remain  over  Sunday.  I  do  not  recollect,  and  can  now 
never  ascertain,  whether  we  expected  to  meet  Foster 
or  Beach,  but  certainly  no  meeting  was  appointed,  till 
on  Saturday  evening,  Mr.  Christopher  Robinson 
called  with  Foster  and  Beach  at  Mr.  Buffum's,  with 
proposals  that  something  be  done  for  anti-slavery 
work  on  the  morrow.  It  was  concluded  that  he  and 
Foster  would  call  on  Rev.  Mr.  Cook,  of  the  Congre 
gational  meeting-house,  to  procure,  if  possible,  a  hear 
ing  for  him  there,  and  that  Mr.  Beach  and  I  should 
call  on  Overseer  Nathan  Breed,  and  ask  for  the 
Friend's  meeting-house,  for  similar  purpose.  But  we 
were  denied  in  both  instances.  Foster  first  asked 
Mr.  Cook  if  he  would  be  willing  to  allow  him  to 
preach  for  him  a  part  of  the  day.  The  no  was  em 
phatic.  Then  would  you  permit  us  the  use  of  the 
house  at  five  o'clock,  afternoon,  or  some  unoccupied 


310  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

hour  ?  That  was  also  refused,  and  with  threats  that 
if  he  ever  came  into  the  house  to  speak  at  all,  he 
"would  be  taken  care  of."  Foster  had  said  no  word 
about  going  in,  but  did  say,  calmly,  that  it  was  uncer 
tain  where  he  should  speak  next  day,  but  probably 
somewhere  in  Lynn.  Friend  Breed  was  told,  when 
he  denied  us  the  Friends'  house,  that  he  must  not  be 
surprised  if  he  should  hear  some  of  us  speaking  in 
his  meeting,  to  which  he  replied,  "  You  will  find  us  a 
peaceable  people."  The  next  morning,  Rogers  went 
by  himself  to  the  Congregational  house,  having  un 
derstood  that  Foster  would  be  there,  and  probably 
would  attempt  to  address  the  people.  I  accompanied 
Beach  and  Foster.  Foster  went  forward  and  sat 
down  in  a  side  slip,  opposite  the  pulpit.  It  was  as 
perfect  a  June  Sunday  as  ever  shone,  but  the  large 
house  and  not  less  large  minister,  avoirdupois,  had 
but  scattered  audience. 

At  the  close  of  the  long  prayer,  which  at  that  period 
was  offered  with  the  congregation  standing,  Foster, 
instead  of  sitting  down,  commenced  speaking,  in  very 
solemn  and  subdued  tone  of  voice.  As  soon  as  Mr. 
Cook  heard  him,  he  turned  towards  him,  and  in  most 
military  tone,  as  became  a  commander  in  the  "  church 
militant"  ordered  him  to  "sit  down."  Foster  did  not 
obey.  "Sit  down,  sir  !  "  was  then  uttered  with  force 
and  gesture.  But  Foster  seemed  only  to  hear  a  higher 
command,  saying,  "  Cry  aloud  ;  spare  not  ;  lift  up  thy 
voice  like  a  trumpet  and  show  my  people  their  trans 
gressions,  and  the  house  of  Jacob  their  sins."  At 
which  Cook  thundered  out,  in  a  tone  strangely  unlike 
the  solemn  voice  of  Foster,  "  1  command  you  in  the 
name  of  the  commonwealth  to  sit  down  !  "  By  that 
time,  the  sexton  and  two  others  came  to  the  rescue, 
and  seizing  Foster,  (whose  non-resistance  principles 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  311 

on  such  occasions  always  put  him  into  a  perfectly  pas 
sive  state),  two  of  them  by  his  shoulders,  his  face 
downward,  and  the  other,  a  most  conveniently  short 
man,  as  though  gotten  up  for  just  that  use,  catching 
hold  of  him  by  the  ankles,  as  he  might  a  wheelbarrow 
by  the  handles,  they  bore  him  down  the  aisle  through 
the  porch,  and  down  the  steps  to  the  sidewalk,  in  the 
most  grotesque  and  ludicrous  manner  imaginable. 
Rogers  and  Beach  followed,  as  did  I  and  several  oth 
ers,  who  were  of  the  audience,  though  to  us  strangers. 
Foster  rose  to  his  feet  at  once,  and,  looking  at  his 
bearers,  said,  pleasantly,  "  This,  then,  is  your  Chris 
tianity,  is  it?"  He  continued  speaking,  to  attentive 
listeners,  too,  till  the  sexton,  seeing  the  attention 
.given,  told  the  people  to  go  back  into  the  house. 
"  No  breaking  in  upon  worship,  friend  sexton,"  said 
Rogers.  "  We  shall  have  to  drag  you  out  if  you  do. 
Don't  drive  folks  in,  if  you  do  drag  them  out."  The 
sexton  laughed.  We  all  laughed.  Rogers  advised 
the  good-natured  sexton  to  resign  and  not  do  such 
dirty  work  for  such  a  minister  and  church.  After 
speaking  some  time  to  excellent  purpose,  Foster 
walked  directly  across  the  common,  not  many  rods, 
entered  the  Baptist  meeting-house  and  sat  down  till 
the  services  were  closed  and  the  benediction  pro 
nounced.  Then,  as  the  people  were  moving  out,  he 
began  speaking  again.  The  sexton  at  the  other  house 
had  asked  Foster,  in  a  kindly  way,  why  he  didn't  wait 
till  the  exercises  closed,  and  then  he  would  not  have 
been  molested.  But  Foster  assured  him  "that  would 
have  made  no  difference.  You  would  have  dragged 
me  out  then  as  you  have  now."  As  those  Baptists 
verily  did.  They  fell  on  him  the  moment  they  heard 
his  voice,  like  blood-hounds.  They  hurried  him  down 
the  aisle  and  door-steps  to  the  ground,  with  such 


312  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

violence  as  did  him  and  his  clothing  serious  injury,, 
as  there  was  good  reason  to  think  they  intended.  He, 
however,  rose  up  and  addressed  them  a  few  gentle 
words  and  walked  away  to  his  lodgings,  at  Friend 
William  Bassett's,  at  that  time  a  most  welcome,  hos 
pitable  and  desirable  anti-slavery  home.  Rogers  stood 
thoughtfully  surveying  the  scene,  when  some  younger 
brethren  of  "  the  Baptism  of  John,"  assailed  him  a 
little  in  the  style  of  the  high  priest's  palace,  in  Jeru 
salem,  eighteen  centuries  ago.  "  This  is  one  of  them," 
said  a  beardless  youth,  with  a  leer  of  contempt. 
Rogers  did  not  deny.  "  You  ought  to  be  tarred  and 
feathered,"  sneered  out  another,  spitefully.  "Yes,'" 
said  the  first,  "and  carried  to  the  county  jail."  "And 
cowhided,"  said  another,  "for  disturbing  meetings  on 
the  Sabbath  in  such  a  way." 

"Ah,"  responded  Rogers,  "  is  that,  then,  the  spirit 
of  your  worship  ?  Does  your  gospel  run  like  that, 
my  friends  ?  Is  it  tar  your  enemies  ;  feather  them 
that  hate  you  ;  cowhide  them  that  despitefully  use 
you  ?  Why,  friends,  is  that  your  way  ?  "  Some  of  the 
world's  people  were  rather  pleased,  and  laughed  ; 
whereat,  the  knights  of  the  tar-bucket  ran  away. 

At  noon, -we  decided  to  hold  a  meeting  in  Lyceum 
hall,  at  six  o'clock,  and  issued  notices  to  that  effect, 
Mr.  Rogers,  never  having  seen  a  Friends'  meeting,  in 
the  afternoon  attended  their  regular  service,  at  three 
o'clock.  He  found  there  both  Beach  and  Foster.  I 
did  not  go  near.  All  was  still  for  a  considerable 
time.  Beach  was  first  to  break  the  silence.  He  said 
he  had  a  testimony  to  bear,  and  proceeded  in  his 
usual  serious  and  moderate  manner,  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  and  gradually  drew  into  the  then  inactive 
and  very  indifferent  course  of  the  Friends'  societies 
towards  the  anti-slavery  enterprise  in  particular  ;  but 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  313 

also  on  the  great  evils  of  war,  intemperance,  and  their 
like,  when  a  high-seat  Friend  rose  and  said  to  him  : 
"  Thy  speaking  is  an  interruption  of  our  worship." 
Beach  responded  that  he  thought  speech  was  free  in 
Friends'  meetings,  and  proceeded.  Then  another 
voice  came  down  from  the  high  seat,  desiring  the 
friend  to  be  quiet.  But  Beach  kept  on,  till  a  third 
elder  rose,  and  asked  to  be  heard.  Beach  then  said, 
"  If  anything  is  revealed  to  thee,  I  will  hold  my  peace." 
"I  have,"  said  the  high-seat  voice,  and  Beach  sat 
down.  Then  the  "  revealed  "  word  was  uttered,  thus  : 
"We  request  thee  not  to  disturb  our  meeting  any 
longer  by  thy  speaking."  Beach  then  resumed  ;  upon 
which  high-seat  members  began  shaking  hands,  the 
sign  for  closing  the  meeting.  As  the  elders  and  some 
others  passed  down  the  aisles,  William  Bassett,  then 
an  esteemed  and  much  respected  young  member, 
called  out  to  them  to  remain  and  hear  the  truth,  and 
not  run  away  from  it.  Just  then,  his  mother,  a  ven 
erable  and  highly  honored  member  of  the  society, 
rushed  forward,  and  in  great  apparent  grief  besought 
him,  in  piteous  and  pleading  tones,  to  desist  and  be 
quiet.  But  he  answered  her  tenderly  and  affection 
ately,  though  firmly,  "  Mother,  I  am  about  my 
heavenly  Father's  business,  and  cannot  hear  thee 
now."  He  then  proceeded  at  some  length,  most  of 
the  elderly  men  having  gone  out.  When  Mr.  Bassett 
had  closed  his  testimony,  which  he  confessed  he  had 
too  long  neglected,  Foster  arose,  most  of  the  women 
and  young  men  remaining,  and  some  of  the  elders  re 
turning,  and  stepping  on  a  seat  overlooking  the  crowd, 
he  called  attention  to  "that  afflicted  mother,"  as  he 
designated  Mrs.  Bassett.  "Mark  her  distress  and  an 
guish  of  spirit.  It  would  be  no  wonder,  nothing 
strange  or  new,  should  her  reason  be  dethroned  by 


314  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

such  shock  upon  it !  And  who  but  you  ministers  of 
those  '  high  seats '  would  be  the  guilty  cause  of  her 
calamity?"  He  was  proceeding  in  such  fervid  strain, 
when  the  older  members,  near  the  door,  dashed  for 
ward,  and  seizing  him  with  great  violence,  pulled  him 
down  from  the  seat  and  started  with  him  for  the  door. 
Friend  Nathan  Breed  had  told  Mr.  Beach  and  me  the 
evening  before,  that  we  would  find  them  "  a  peaceable 
people,"  should  we  wish  to  speak.  And  here  and  thus 
they  were.  But  before  Foster  had  been  dragged  half 
•way  to  the  door,  a  brave  young  friend  had  reached 
him,  and  called  out  to  the  furious  crowd,  "  Hold  !  you 
shan't  drag  this  man  out."  He  was  followed  by  several 
others,  and  Foster  was  rescued  and  resumed  his  speak 
ing.  Of  course  the  excitement  was  very  great,  but 
Foster  now  had  full  opportunity.  He  cited  George 
Fox  and  Edward  Burroughs,  the  highest  Quaker  au 
thorities  for  entering  any  religious  assembly,  and  de 
manding  right  to  be  heard.  He  called  for  the  history  of 
their  example,  and  William  Bassett  immediately  pro 
duced  and  read  it  to  them  all,  undoubtedly  to  the  as 
tonishment  of  most  of  them.  The  fact  was,  Beach 
and  Foster  had  done  exactly  what  the  early  Friends 
both  did,  and  defended  and  taught,  if  they  did  not 
command,  and  their  cause  prospered  greatly  through 
their  bravery  and  fidelity,  as  did  ours  that  day  at  Lynn, 
as  has  been  already  seen. 

When,  at  a  late  hour  in  the  afternoon,  the  crowd  at 
the  Friends'  meeting-house  dispersed,  Foster  and 
Beach  took  some  notices  of  our  Lyceum  hall  meet 
ing  and  walked  down,  Beach  to  the  First  Methodist, 
and  Foster  to  the  Baptist  house,  from  which  he  had 
been  dragged,  a  few  hours  before,  intending  to  read 
them  at  the  close  of  their  third  services.  But  both 
were  dragged  out  with  savage  fury,  though  both  meet- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  315 

ings  were  nearly  done  when  they  entered  the  houses. 
Both  were  non-resistants,  and  so  accepted  quietly  such 
usage  as  was  tendered.  Beach  had  a  thumb  dislo 
cated  by  Methodist  madness,  which  cost  him  severe 
suffering,  as*  well  as  for  a  long  time  the  use  of  his 
hand.  Foster  suffered  the  loss  of  a  part  of  his  coat 
collar,  through  Quaker  quiet,  and  a  sleeve  cuff  by  Bap 
tist  hands.  But  that  was  not  all.  Though  their  ser 
vices  were  through,  he  was  caught  up  and  carried 
down  to  the  porch  and  thrust  into  a  dark  closet  under 
the  stairs,  where  the  sexton  kept  the  lamps,  oil-cans, 
and  other  similar  sanctuary  utensils,  and  stored  him 
there  "some  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes."  When  they 
finally  released  him,  he  made  them  a  short  and  kindly 
address,  and  holding  up  his  damaged  raiment,  he  said, 
"  This  torn  collar  illustrates  Quaker  Christianity,  and 
this  absent  cuff  is  an  emblem  of  your  Baptist 
religion." 

It  need  not  be  said  that  by  this  time  the  town  was 
quite  awake.  We  hardly  dared  think  that  our  Lyceum 
hall  meeting  would  be  tolerated.  But  it  was,  and 
crowded,  too,  and  continued  with  unabated  interest 
three  hours,  and  the  order  and  quiet  were  all  that 
could  be  desired.  All  four  of  us  from  New  Hamp 
shire  were  heard  with  attention  and  respect  ;  and 
though  we  spoke  our  extremest  thought  on  the  rights 
of  speech  and  of  worship,  and  of  the  importance  of 
a  true  understanding  of  them  for  the  success  of  the 
anti-slavery  enterprise,  beset  by  foes  on  every  hand, 
and  of  every  description,  the  pro-slavery  church  and 
clergy,  of  course  the  most  deadly  and  dangerous,  the 
very  "bulwarks  of  slavery,"  not  one  whisper  of  doubt 
or  dissent  was  manifested  by  word  or  deed.  Foster 
not  only  invited,  but  urged  discussion  on  any  of  our 
positions,  then  and  there,  by  clergy  or  laity,  or  any 


316  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

who  might  differ  with  us.  We  had  heard  that  some 
of  us  were  to  be  arrested  on  Monday,  but  we  volun 
tarily  put  ourselves  on  trial,  and  were  now  ready,  he 
said,  to  meet  our  accusers.  But  no  one  appeared, 
then  nor  on  Monday.  Prosecutions  had  been  threat 
ened,  but  none  came.  So  on  Tuesday,  Rogers  and  1 
returned  to  New  Hampshire,  leaving  Foster  and  Beach 
to  pursue  the  work  in  their  own  way,  which  they  did, 
and  with  mighty  power,  and  signal  success,  too,  not 
withstanding  the  complacent  conclusion  of  Mr.  Tracy, 
the  Lynn  historian,  that  "their  strength  was  all  gone 
in  that  one  effort "  in  Lynn,  as  we  shall  see. 

Foster  extended  his  field  with  Beach  to  Boston,  and 
then  alone  to  New  Bedford  and  Nantucket.  There 
the  people  became  so  stirred,  Quaker  population 
though  it  largely  was,  as  to  break  up  his  course  of  lec 
tures  with  one  of  the  fiercest  mobs  of  the  whole  con 
flict,  and  he  was  solemnly  advised  to  leave  the  island, 
"to  prevent  the  shedding  of  human  blood,"  which  he 
accordingly  did.  But  he  soon  after  more  than  com 
pleted  his  course  of  lectures,  for  at  the  request  of 
leading  citizens  of  Nantucket,  he  wrote  and  published 
"  The  Brotherhood  of  Thieves  ;  or  a  True  Picture  of 
the  American  Church  and  Clergy."  The  world  some 
day  may  wish  to  see  it.  It  ran  through  ten  editions, 
of  two  thousand  copies  each,  and  produced  most 
millennial  results,  both  east  and  west.  For  stunning 
as  the  title  page  sounded,  the  seventy-two  subsequent 
pages  proved  beyond  doubt  or  question,  that  it  was 
true  and  just. 

But  Beach  and  Foster  did  not  hasten  their  depar 
ture  from  Essex  county.  Soon  they  were  in  South 
Danvers  and  Danvers  New  Mills.  Were  both  dragged 
out  of  meeting-houses  there  as  at  Lynn,  and  for  the 
same  offense.  Their  experiences  there  were  varied, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  317 

sometimes  adverse,  then  more  prosperous,  as  they 
happened  to  fall  into  the  civil  or  ecclesiastical  grasp. 
They  could  at  least  be  heard  in  court,  as  never  in  the 
church.  And  they  were  even  permitted  to  decline 
testifying  at  the  civil  tribunal,  if  for  conscience  sake 
they  declined,  as  Foster  did  on  one  occasion,  if  no 
more. 

Beach  would  have  been  a  dipped  Baptist,  at  New 
Mills,  whether  he  would  or  no,  but  for  the  good-na 
tured  roguishness  of  a  boy  in  emptying  the  water 
trough  ;  and  Foster  might  have  seen  one  of  his  South 
Danvers  persecutors  severely  punished  had  he  been 
willing  to  appear  against  him  in  court. 

The  Herald  of  Freedom  of  the  22d  of  July,  1842, 
has  this  brief  notice  of  the  scenes,  headed  "  Beach 
and  Foster  Imprisoned  by  the  Church."  "Thomas 
P.  Beach,  our  anti-slavery  lecturer,  rose  to  speak  in  a 
professed  Christian  meeting  at  Danvers  New  Mills 
Sunday  before  last,  and  the  professors  flew  into  a  rage 
and  fell  upon  him  and  dragged  him  out  of  the  meet 
ing  and  went  to  plunge  him  into  a  large  water  trough, 
they  had  filled  for  the  purpose,  but  they  found  the 
trough  dry.  A  little  boy  hearing  of  their  sectarian 
purpose  had  pulled  out  the  plug  and  hid  it.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  say  that  they  were  Baptists.  The  same 
day  Stephen  S.  Foster,  as  I  learn,  at  another  professed 
Christian  meeting  at  South  Danvers,  being  kicked 
out  by  one  of  the  worshippers,  and  the  man  kicking 
him,  prosecuted  for  it  by  another  of  the  worshippers, 
(because,  as  I  suppose,  he  had  kicked  beyond  worship 
measure)  and  Foster  being  ordered  to  testify  against 
him,  and  declining  doing  so,  on  the  ground  that  that 
was  not  his  way  of  forgiving  an  injury,  the  church 
fined  him.  He  declined  paying  the  fine,  and  they 
thrust  him  into  Salem  jail.  The  New  Mills  Baptists 


318  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

prosecuted  Beach,  and  sent  him  also  to  Salem  jail,, 
and  placed  several  Danvers  citizens  under  bonds  for 
declining  to  assist  in  carrying  the  prisoner  to  jail.'1 

Imprisonments  at  that  period  were  frequent  of 
abolitionists,  some  of  whom  being  non-resistants,  were 
committed  for  refusing  to  take  lessons  in  the  art  of 
human  slaughter,  under  the  milder  name  of  "  military 
duty."  Most  of  the  victims  from  our  ranks  were  for 
the  crime  of  a  too  liberal  interpretation  and  exercise 
of  the  rights  of  speech  and  worship,  in  a  country  whose 
government  and  religion  were  incorrigibly  committed 
to  breeding,  trafficking  in  and  holding  slaves. 

The  imprisonment  of  Thomas  Parnell  Beach  at  New- 
buryport,  foreshadowed  by  the  letter  of  Mr.  Harriman 
from  Salem  jail,  already  given,  came  a  few  weeks, 
later.  He  was  kept  in  close  confinement  three  months, 
on  indictments  by  the  Lynn  Quakers  and  Danvers 
Baptists.  His  own  account  written  in  the  jail  reads 
to  this  purport  : 

"I  was  indicted  on  the  Danvers  and  the  Lynn 
Quaker  affair.  Those  quiet,  meek,  peaceable,  perse 
cuting  followers  of  Jesus  have  marched  up  and  bowed 
their  joints  at  the  door  of  the  court  house  and  begged 
the  state  to  stretch  out  the  bayonets,  load  up  the  big 
guns  and  rifles,  and  drive  this  blood-thirsty  Beach  to 
prison  sine  die,  or  till  he  pay  a  fine  of  a  hundred  dol 
lars,  which  he  has  no  means  of  paying,  and  could  not 
pay  conscientiously  if  he  had.  For  every  dollar  so  paid 
helps  the  church  to  persecute  Christ,  making  the  state 
her  more  willing  tool.  I  am  not  astonished  that  Dan 
vers'  Baptist  majors  and  captains  should  fly  to  the 
courts  and  the  forts,  but  that  meek,  loving,  forgiving 
Quakers,  who  cannot  bear  arms,  which  are  the  only 
possible  support  of  human  governments,  can  step  for 
ward  and  say  to  the  state,  '  Please  imprison  Thomas 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  319 

Beach  because  we  shook  hands  and  broke  up  our 
meeting  !  Spirits  of  George  Fox  and  Edward  Bur 
roughs,  awake  !  awake  !'  " 

Most,  perhaps  all,  who  were  active  in  this  persecu 
tion  of  an  innocent  but  brave,  noble,  peaceful  and 
conscientious  man,  have  long  since  passed  with  him  to 
their  final  account,  so  I  would  tread  softly  on  their 
ashes,  and  speak  of  them  only  in  tones  of  tenderness 
and  charity.  I  will  let  their  victim  be  mainly  his 
own  chronicler.  He  forgave  them  here  ;  he  will  for 
give  them  there,  or  wherever  they  have  gone,  and  help 
them  to  forgive  themselves.  His  friends,  while  he 
was  confined,  brought  his  family  to  Newburyport,  and 
kindly  and  tenderly  cared  for  them.  His  little  boy, 
three  or  four  years  old,  shared  his  cell  with  him  much 
of  the  time  ;  and  through  his  prison  bars  he  spoke  to 
larger  audiences  and  to  better  purpose  than  ever  be 
fore  ;  though  always  one  of  the  most  impressive,  per 
suasive,  effective  pleaders  for  the  deliverance  of  the 
enslaved  who  ever  entered  the  field. 

While  a  prisoner,  he  not  only  wrote  some  powerful 
articles  for  the  Newburyport  Herald,  some  of  which 
are  now  before  me  ;  but  the  friends  of  Freedom,  not 
knowing  whether  he  would  ever  be  discharged,  estab 
lished  a  paper  expressly  for  him,  called  A  Voice  from 
the  Jail.  It  ran  during  his  confinement,  and  was  con 
ducted  with  remarkable  ability.  Some  of  its  pages 
flashed  as  with  heavenly  fire  ;  every  word  of  them 
would  be  worth  reprinting,  were  it  only  to  reveal  the 
power,  intellectual  and  spiritual,  of  some  of  the 
bravest  champions  in  reform,  whose  word  and  work 
ever  enlightened  and  blessed  mankind. 

With  a  very  few  extracts  of  articles  written  by  Mr. 
Beach  while  a  prisoner,  this  account,  already  too 
extended,  will  close. 


320  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

On  the  right  to  speak  anywhere  in  behalf  of 
enslaved  millions,  ground  down  into  the  dust  as  human 
being  never  was  before  ;  and  when  every  voice,  every 
press,  every  pulpit,  was  bidden  to  silence,  as  widely 
and  effectively  as  possible,  he  wrote  thus  : 

I  will  not  stop  to  argue  nor  question  the  right. 
Every  instinct  of  my  humanity,  or  anybody's,  will 
sharply  rebuke  the  cowardly,  quivering  spirit  that 
should  moot  this  query  and  respond  to  it  ;  is  it 
right  to  speak  for  enslaved,  crushed  humanity  any 
where  ?  Right  to  speak  in  God's  house  for  three 
hundred  new-born  babes  daily  sacrificed  to  the  Mol 
och  of  slavery  !  Right  to  echo  the  prayer  of  three  hun 
dred  and  fifty  thousand  women,  members  of  nominal 
churches,  that  they  may  be  delivered  from  the  lust, 
violence,  and  degradation  to  which  a  man-stealing 
church  and  clergy  have  reduced  them  !  Right  to 
stand  on  the  threshold  of  the  sanctuary,  and  cry  in  the 
ear  of  the  dozing  priest  and  deacon,  thus  guilty  in 
fellowshipping  hell  itself  as  a  Christian  institution  ;  to 
beseech  them  to  lift  their  heel  from  the  neck  of  my 
wife,  brother,  sister,,  mother  !  Right  to  cry  robber, 
adulterer,  murderer,  in  the  ear  of  a  church  that  buys, 
sells  and  enslaves  God's  own  image  ;  that  sells  Jesus 
Christ  at  auction,  and  then  declare  they  "have  not  vio 
lated  tJie  Christian  faith  /"  O  shame,  where  is  thy 
blush?  O  spirit  of  1835  and  '37,  where  art  thou  ? 
Does  fear  wither  thy  courage  ?  or  startle  thee  from 
thy  high  purpose  to  deliver  the  slave,  at  all  hazards? 
has  love,  or  desire  of  applause  ennervated  thy  power, 
or  scattered  those  rays  that  once  came  flashing,  burn 
ing  from  thine  eyes  ?  *  * 

Oh,  if  the  state  could  have  enough  of 
this  work  to  do,  it  would  soon  be  sick  of  supporting 
the  victims  of  church  malice  and  sectarian  hate  ! 

I  want  company  here  ;  I  wish  every  jail  in 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  filled  with  those 
who  have  boldness  enough  to  go  and  charge  upon 
these  God-dishonoring  corporations,  not  only  all  the 
guilt,  for  the  tears,  stripes,  groans  and  degradation  of 
the  slave,  but  also  for  the  bolting  and  barring  of  every 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  321 

prison  door,  the  beheading  and  strangling  of  every 
criminal  and  culprit  in  the  land,  together  with  all  the 
blood  shed,  from  Abel  down  to  the  present  hour. 
Oh  my  God,  when  will  thy  children  be  willing  to  suf 
fer  with  Jesus,  for  a  perishing  world  ?  when  renounce 
home,  money,  lands,  pride,  selfishness,  lust,  for  the 
cross  of  Christ  and  the  crown  of  glory  ? 
*  *  *  I  am  in  this  prison  for  attempting  to  exer 
cise  speech  freely  as  a  man.  I  felt  called  on  to  open 
my  mouth  for  the  slave,  in  places  where  professing 
Christians  meet  to  worship.  Should  I  not  obey  that 
call  ?  Am  I  a  man,  and  may  I  not  speak  when  I 
think  and  feel  that  I  ought  to  speak  ?  Why  am  I  made 
with  these  organs  of  utterance  and  capacities  for 
thought  and  conviction  if  all  maybe  controlled  by  the 
power  of  others  ?  Why  have  I  sympathies  for  my  suf 
fering  kind  if  I  may  not  let  them  flow  out  ?  What  did 
God  mean  in  my  formation  ?  Has  He  made  me  in 
mockery  ?  Is  He  deluding  me  ?  Is  He  trifling  with 
His  intelligent  creation  ?  He,  who  never  trifles  with 
brutes  nor  inanimate  nature  ?  I  spoke  for  the  slave  on 
my  humanity's  motion,  and  at  the  bidding  of  God,  and 
I  am  here  for  it.  Well,  I  will  bear  it  as  becomes  a 
man.  But  let  me  tell  my  incarcerators,  they  commit 
a  mighty  mistake  when  they  imprison  a  nature  that 
knows  how  to  endure  privation  like  this.  * 
I  am  a  prisoner,  but  no  matter,  it  is  experience — an  in 
valuable  teacher.  I  am  an  abolitionist  now,  and  can 
remember  them  that  are  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them. 
*  Oh,  the  crime  of  making  slaves  of  human 
beings  !  Of  keeping  them  slaves  !  Oh,  the  responsi 
bility  which  lies  on  this  Christendom  !  Oh,  the  crime 
of  professing  godliness,  and  keeping  humanity  in 
slavery  !  This  is  the  crime  of  the  churches.  Oh,  the 
awful  crime  against  God  and  man  of  assuming  a  priest 
hood,  pretending  it  to  be  Christian,  and  using  its 
mighty  influence  to  perpetuate  human  enslavement 
and  hinder  a  peaceful  movement  for  its  overthrow  ! 

Speech,  glorious  organ  of  reform  among  men,  will 
it  ever  be  free  !  Free,  it  would  work  wonders.  Free, 
men  and  women  would  then  speak  like  God.  Now 
speech  is  enchained.  Men  speak  as  they  would  walk 


322.  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

in  fetters,  and  they  look  as  they  speak.  The  human 
look  is  cowered  and  brought  down,  and  all  human 
action  seems  constrained  and  servile.  ' 

The  list  of  the  imprisoned  could  be  extended,  but 
the  instances  given  already  must  suffice.  They  show 
what  manner  of  spirit  actuated  both  the  persecutors 
and  their  victims  Many  more  were  roughly  removed 
from  meetings  where  they  attempted  to  speak  in  most 
decent  and  proper  manner  for  the  enslaved,  some  of 
them  women  of  spotless  purity  of  heart  and  life.  The 
churches  lost  many  of  their  choicest  members  and  the 
Couie-outer  connection  greatly  increased,  especially  in 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  Hayward's 
"  Book  of  Religions  "  contains  an  excellent  descrip 
tive  account  of  them,  written  by  William  Bassett,  whose 
name  has  already  graced  honorably  these  pages. 
Many  meetings  of  them  were  established,  and  the 
present  Free  religious  societies,  now  so  widely  known, 
may  be  truly  said  to  have  had  their  beginnings  then 
and  there.  Lynn  furnished  memorable  instances 
Two  months  after  the  Sunday  demonstration  there  by 
Beach  and  Foster,  already  described  at  so  great  length, 
Mr.  Rogers  was  again  there  and  attended  the  regular 
"  Come-outer  "  meeting.  He  wrote  :  "  Though  the 
clergy  taunt  them  for  their  homely  name,  they  must 
have  trembled  yesterday  when  they  saw  the  people 
throng  to  their  meeting  in  such  numbers."  Among 
the  speakers  on  that  day  was  Frederick  Douglass,  then 
comparatively  new  on  the  anti-slavery  platform.  He 
spoke  on  the  subject  of  prayer,  and  illustrated  it  by 
his  own  experience  while  a  slave.  He  said  he  prayed 
long  and  earnestly  for  freedom  in  words  as  he  had 
been  taught  but  nothing  came  of  it.  At  length  he 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  323 

addressed  his  legs  :  "  O  legs,  give  me  freedom  !  O 
legs,  bring  me  to  freedom  !  And  as  you  see,"  he  said, 
"they  did  it.  They  answered  my  prayer." 

And  Douglass  might  have  added,  perhaps  he  did 
add,  you  "  Come-outers"  are  but  fugitive  slaves  escaped 
from  your  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  plantations. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

CONVENTIONS  AT  NANTUCKET  AND  NEW  BEDFORD- 
FREDERICK  DOUGLASS  DISCOVERED— LETTER  FROM 
MR.  GARRISON— MEETINGS  AND  MOB  DEMONSTRATIONS 
IN  SALEM— OPERATIONS  IN  MAINE— MOBS  IN  PORT 
LAND  AND  HARWICH. 

Here  may  be  the  place  to  go  back  a  year  and  give 
account  of  two  conventions,  memorable  in  anti-slavery 
history,  held  in  New  Bedford  and  Nantucket,  in  Au 
gust,  1841.  All  our  meetings,  of  that  and  the  following 
year,  as  has  been  seen,  especially  in  New  Hampshire 
and  Massachusetts,  were  of  intense  interest,  and  peril, 
too,  on  account  of  the  new  and  stern  tests  demanded 
of  abolitionists,  both  in  their  political  and  ecclesiasti 
cal  relations.  Both  the  whig  and  democratic  parties 
and  all  the  great  popular  religious  denominations,  as 
the  Baptist,  Congregationalist,  Episcopalian,  Method 
ist  and  Presbyterian  (new  school  and  old),  were  all 
committed  to  the  power  and  policy  of  the  southern 
slaveholders. 

And  so  the  text  of  the  true  anti-slavery  apostles  and 
prophets  was  :  "Come  out  of  them,  my  people,  that  ye 
be  not  partakers  in  their  sins,  and  receive  not  of  their 
plagues  !  " 

Prominent  among  the  speakers  at  that  meeting  in 
New  Bedford,  were  Garrison,  Edmund  Quincy,  and 
George  Bradburn,  then  a  talented  and  popular  Uni- 
versalist  minister  and  radical  abolitionist  ;  though, 
with  the  other  two  named,  now  no  more.  We  closed 
late  on  Sunday,  and  adjourned  to  meet  at  the  same 
place  on  Monday  morning  at  half-past  seven  o'clock. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  325 

This  early  hour  was  necessary  to  complete  our  busi 
ness  and  be  ready  for  the  Nantucket  steamer,  at  half- 
past  ten,  as  we  were  to  commence  another  convention 
on  that  island  the  next  day. 

The  "Report  of  Proceedings  at  New  Bedford"  is 
not  now  before  me  ;  but  the  following  resolution, 
adopted  at  Taunton,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  the  next 
week,  on  my  return,  after  long  discussion,  is  probably 
a  fair  specimen,  as  relates  to  the  church  ;  and  our 
position  was  not  different  towards  the  political 
parties  :— 

Resolved,  That  American  slavery  is  wholesale  rob 
bery,  adultery,  man-stealing  and  murder,  and  is  the 
sin  of  the  whole  nation,  but  preeminently  of  the  north  ; 
and  is  sustained  by  both  the  republicanism  and 
religion  of  the  country,  but  preeminently  by  the 
religion  ;  *  *  *  and  hence  no  enlight 

ened  person  should  be  recognized  as  a  Christian  who 
is  not  an  active,  outspoken  abolitionist. 

Several  of  our  speakers  were  colored,  of  whom  New 
Bedford  at  that  time  had  many.  I  think  there  were 
two  religious  societies  of  colored  people  there,  each 
with  meeting-house  and  minister.  Many  of  them, 
however,  fled — men  and  women — to  Canada,  in  1850, 
on  the  enactment  of  the  new  fugitive-slave  law, 
swifter  than  the  exodus  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt. 

One  of  them  spoke  so  effectively  at  our  meetings 
that  he  was  invited  to  go  with  us  to  Nantucket,  with 
promise  of  expenses  paid.  Not  much  was  required 
for  fare,  for  he  and  his  wife  were  allowed  only  the 
forward  deck,  where  they  suffered  from  both  sun  and 
rain,  especially  on  our  return,  by  rain.  Our  company, 
of  course,  protested,  but  the  rule  was  imperious. 

The  Nantucket  meeting  continued  two  or  three 
days  and  evenings,  most  ably  sustained,  and  with 
increasing  interest  to  the  very  last.  Till  then  I  had 


326  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

never  heard  a  fugitive  slave  speak,  nor  any  distin 
guished  colored  man.  But  as  Emerson  used  to  say, 
"  eloquence  at  anti-slavery  conventions,  is  dog  cheap." 

A  young  New  Bedford  barber,  slightly  colored, 
named  Sanderson,  never  a  slave,  tall,  handsome, 
made  one  of  the  finest  addresses  I  had  then  heard  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  Edmund  Quincy,  who  sat  by 
me,  remarked,  and  truly,  as  the  young  man  sat  down, 
"  There  was  not  an  error  of  grammar  in  that  whole 
speech."  And  it  was  more  than  half  an  hour  in  de 
livery. 

Later  in  the  evening,  our  invited  friend  from  New 
Bedford,  the  fugitive  slave,  came  to  the  platform.  The 
house  was  crowded  in  every  part,  and  he  evidently 
began  to  speak  under  much  embarrassment.  To  that 
time  the  meetings  had  advanced  with  increasing  fervor, 
and,  as  this  was  the  last  session,  I  began  to  fear  a  de 
cline  for  the  close.  But  the  young  man  soon  gained 
self-possession,  and  gradually  rose  to  the  importance 
of  the  occasion  and  the  dignity  of  his  theme.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks,  he  gave  a  most  side-splitting 
specimen  of  a  slave-holding  minister's  sermon,  both 
as  to  delivery  and  doctrine,  the  text  being :  "  Ser 
vants,  obey  in  all  things  your  masters."  I. can  vouch 
for  the  correctness  of  its  doctrine,  from  a  volume  of 
published  sermons,  preached  to  masters  and  slaves, 
(now  on  my  desk)  by  the  then  Bishop  Meade,  of  the 
Virginia  Episcopal  church.  There  was  a  parody, 
too,  on  a  hymn  then  much  sung  at  the  south,  entitled, 
"Christian  Union."  The  following  verses  are  part 
of  it: 

Come,  saints  and  sinners,  hear  me  tell 
How  pious  priests  whip  Jack  and  Nell, 
And  women  buy  and  children  sell, 
Then  preach  all  sinners  down  to  hell, 
And  sing  of  heavenly  union. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  327 

They'll  talk  of  heaven  and  Christ's  reward, 

And  bind  his  image  with  a  cord, 

And  scold  and  swing  the  lash  abhorred, 

And  sell  their  brother  in  the  Lord 

To  handcuffed  heavenly  union. 

They'll  church  you  if  you  sip  a  dram. 
And  damn  you  if  you  steal  a  lamb. 
Yet  rob  old  Tony,  Doll  and  Sam 
Of  human  rights  and  bread  and  ham, 
Kidnapper's  heavenly  union  ! 

They'll  raise  tobacco,  corn  and  rye, 
And  drive  and  thieve  and  cheat  and  lie, 
And  lay  up  treasures  in  the  sky, 
By  making  whip  and  cowskin  fly, 
In  hope  of  heavenly  union. 

They'll  crack  old  Tony  on  the  skull, 
And  preach  and  roar  like  Bashan  bull, 
Or  braying  ass,  of  mischief  full, 
Then  seize  old  Jacob  by  the  wool 
And  pull  for  heavenly  union. 

I  do  not  distinctly  remember  that  this  parody  was 
given  in  that  sermon,  but  as  we  so  often  heard  it, 
and  sometimes  sung  with  most  exquisite  drollery  and 
grace,  it  is  hardly  probable  that  it  was  omitted  there. 

When  the  young  man  closed,  late  in  the  evening^ 
though  none  seemed  to  know  nor  to  care  for  the  hour, 
Mr.  Garrison  rose  to  make  the  concluding  address.  I 
think  he  never  before  nor  afterwards  felt  more  pro 
foundly  the  sacredness  of  his  mission  nor  the  impor 
tance  of  a  crisis  moment  to  his  success.  I  surely 
never  saw  him  when  he  seemed  more  divinely  inspired. 
The  crowded  congregation  had  been  wrought  up  al 
most  to  enchantment  during  the  long  evening,  partic 
ularly  by  some  of  the  utterances  of  the  last  speaker,  as 
he  turned  over  the  terrible  Apocalypse  of  his  experi 
ences  in  slavery. 

But  Mr.  Garrison  was  singularly  serene  and  calm. 
It  was  well  that  he  was  so.  He  only  asked  a  few  sim 
ple,  direct  questions.  I  can  recall  but  few  of  them, 
though  I  do  remember  the  first  and  the  last.  The 


328  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

first  was  :  "  Have  we  been  listening  to  a  thing,  a 
piece  of  property,  or  to  a  man  ?"  "  A  man  !  A  man  !" 
shouted  fully  five  hundred  voices  of  women  and  men. 
"  And  should  such  a  man  be  held  a  slave  in  a  republi 
can  and  Christian  land  ?"  was  another  question.  "  No, 
no  !  Never,  never  !"  again  swelled  up  from  the  same 
voices,  like  the  billows  of  the  deep.  But  the  last  was 
this  :  k'  Shall  such  a  man  ever  be  sent  back  to  slavery 
from  the  soil  of  old  Massachusetts  ?"  this  time  uttered 
with  all  the  power  of  voice  of  which  "Garrison  was 
capable,  now  more  than  forty  years  ago.  Almost  the 
whole  assembly  sprang  with  one  accord  to  their  feet 
and  the  walls  and  the  roof  of  the  Athenaeum  seemed 
to  shudder  with  the  "  No,  no  !"  loud  and  long  con 
tinued  in  the  wild  enthusiasm  of  the  scene.  As  soon 
as  Garrison  could  be  heard,  he  caught  up  the  acclaim, 
and  superadded  :  "  No  ! — a  thousand  times  no  ! 
Sooner  the  lightnings  of  heaven  blast  Bunker  Hill 
monument  till  not  one  stone  shall  be  left  standing  on 
another !" 

The  whole  can  better  be  imagined  than  described 
by  pen  of  mine.  I  could  rehearse  as  well  the  raptures 
of  cherubim  and  seraphim  around  the  throne  over  the 
rescue  of  a  thousand  souls  from  the  slavery  of  Satan 
and  of  sin. 

Before  us  stood  one  trophy,  self-delivered,  self-re 
deemed  from  our  chattel  slave  system,  then  seething 
with  all  the  terrors  of  the  second  death.  And  why 
should  not  we  have  rejoiced  then  and  there  ?  For 
that  proved  none  other  than  the  baptismal,  the  conse 
crating  service  of  Frederick  Douglass  into  the  life- 
work  and  ministry  which  he  has  since  so  wondrously 
fulfilled. 

Not  long  before  Mr.  Garrison's  death,  I  wrote  him 
a  letter,  congratulatory,  as  was  his  due,  on  the  singu- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  329 

larly  successful  completion  of  his  life-mission  and 
work,  and  expressing  the  hope  that  thus  "seeing  the 
travail  of  his  soul  "  was  his  supreme  satisfaction,  as  it 
might  well  be.  In  my  letter,  I  recalled  to  him  the 
Nantucket  scene,  as  given  above. 

DEAR  FRIEND  PILLSBURY — I  did  not  mean  that  a 
fortnight  should  elapse  before  answering  your  letter, 
the  receipt  of  which  gave  me  much  pleasure,  not  only 
because  of  the  stirring  memories  of  "  Auld  Lang  Syne" 
awakened  by  it,  but  also  for  its  very  kind  and  frater 
nal  spirit. 

But  this  delay  happily  enables  me  to  date  my  an 
swer  on  New  Year's  day,  and  consequently  to  offer  you 
the  heartfelt  congratulations  of  the  season,  and  my 
best  wishes  that  this  may  prove  the  happiest  year  you 
have  yet  experienced. 

However,  let  it  bring  forth  what  it  may  or  must, 
whether  of  prosperity  or  adversity,  joy  or  sorrow, 
health  or  sickness,  even  unto  death,  I  have  no  doubt 
you  will  bear  with  courage  and  fortitude  what  ever 
comes,  remembering  that  our  earthly  existence  is  con 
ditioned  upon  ever  shifting  vicissitudes  and  final  decay. 
You  will  be  prepared  to  say  : 

"  I'll  raise  a  tax  on  my  calamity, 
And  reap  rich  compensation  for  my  pain  ; 
I'll   range  the  plenteous  intellectual  field 
And  gather  every  thought  of  sovereign  power 
To  chase  the  moral  maladies  of  man — 
Thoughts  which  may  bear  transplanting  to  the  skies, 
Though  natives  of  this  coarse,  penurious  soil." 

Your  anti-slavery  reminiscenses  seemed  almost  liter 
ally  to  turn  back  the  wheel  of  time  and  make  me  fancy 
that  I  was  still  residing  in  Seaver  Place,  where  our  per 
sonal  acquaintance  and  friendship  began.  Since  then  I 
have  doubled  my  age,  having  completed  my  seventieth 
year  on  the  twelfth  of  last  month.  You  are  several  years 
my  junior,  and  so  at  that  period  were  comparatively 
a  young  man,  but  stout  in  heart  and  consecrated  in 
purpose  to  the  work  of  breaking  every  yoke  and  let 
ting  the  oppressed  go  free. 


330  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Your  coming  into  the  field  of  conflict  was  specially 
timely,  and  displayed  on  your  part  rare  moral  courage 
and  a  martyr  readiness  to  meet  whatever  of  religious 
obloquy,  popular  derision,  social  outlawry,  mobocratic 
violence  or  deadly  peril  might  confront  you  as  the 
outspoken  and  uncompromising  advocate  of  immedi 
ate  and  unconditional  emancipation. 

For  then  the  aspect  of  things  was  peculiarly  dis 
heartening,  a  formidable  schism  existing  in  the  anti- 
slavery  ranks,  and  the  pro-slavery  elements  of  the 
country  in  furious  commotion.  But  you  stood  at  your 
post  with  the  faithfulness  of  an  Abdiel,  and  whether 
men  would  hear  or  forbear,  you  did  not  at  any  time  to 
the  end  of  the  struggle  fail  to  speak  in  thunder  tones 
in  the  ear  of  the  nation,  exposing  its  blood-guiltiness, 
warning  it  of  the  wrath  to  come,  and  setting  forth  the 
duty  of  thorough  repentance  and  restitution. 

If  you  resorted  to  a  ram's  horn  instead  of  using  a 
silver  trumpet,  it  was  because  thus  only  could  the 
walls  of  our  slave-holding  Jericho  be  shaken  to  their 
overthrow. 

I  need  not  remind  you  of  what  you  were  called  to 
confront  in  the  anti-slavery  lecturing  field,  for  more 
than  a  score  of  years.  Atrocious  misrepresentation 
and  defamation  on  the  one  hand,  and  sharp  privations 
and  perilous  liabilities  on  the  other. 

And  so  in  regard  to  Stephen  S.  and  Abby  Kelley 
Foster  and  other  faithful  and  self-sacrificing  laborers 
in  the  same  manner.  No  heavier  burdens  were  borne 
by  any  in  the  abolition  ranks,  nor  borne  with  greater 
cheerfulness. 

The  agitation  thus  produced,  the  light  thus  dis 
seminated  were  essential  to  the  overthrow  of  the  slave 
system. 

You,  too,    have  seen   the  travail  of  your  soul,  and 
may  well  be  satisfied.     Laus  Deo  ! 
Truly  yours, 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

So  much  was  said  in  the  last  chapter  abottf  my 
native  county  of  Essex,  that  a  brief  account  of  my 
own  experiences  there  may  here  not  be  out  of  place. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  331 

A  visit  I  made  to  Salem  in  the  spring  preceding  the 
operations  of  Beach  and  Foster  in  the  adjoining  towns 
of  Danvers  and  Lynn,  disclosed  more  vividly  the  type 
and  temper  of  "  new  organization"  than  anything  yet 
given,  not  excepting  even  the  Chichester  discussion 
not  very  long  before.  Jt  has  been  clearly  shown  that 
the  secession  of  1840  left  the  American  anti-slavery 
society  bereft  of  nearly  all  the  evangelical  clergy  and 
church  members  who  then  belonged  to  it.  Salem  had 
a  few  excellent  abolitionists,  including  Charles  Lenox 
Remond,  and  the  several  members  of  the  family,  of 
whom  he  was  eldest  son.  It  was  a  cold  dismal  day 
when  I  arrived  ;  alternate  snow  and  rain  rendering  it 
quite  as  unpleasant  under  foot  as  over  head.  After 
two  hours  of  weary  walking  and  calling  and  denials, 
I  obtained  the  use  of  a  small  meeting-house,  belong 
ing  to  the  colored  people,  quite  in  the  south  part  of 
the  town.  Then  I  set  about  posting  up  notices,  such 
as  agents  then  carried,  which  unruly  boys  following 
me  tore  down  almost  as  fast  as  nailed  up.  But  the 
news  went  round,  and  the  dark  evening  brought  to 
gether  the  few  abolitionists  of  the  place  and  enough 
colored  people  to  make  a  fair  audience.  Salem  at 
that  time  was  almost  fatally  infected  with  prejudice 
against  the  African  color.  "  Colorphobia"  was  the 
name  we  abolitionists  gave  the  disease,  and  a  more 
frothing,  foaming  madness  was  never  visited  on  the 
human  family.  It  raged  so  fearfully  that  respectable, 
intelligent,  well-dressed,  well-behaved  colored  people, 
ministers,  church  members,  school  teachers,  women  as- 
well  as  men,  were  frequently  insulted  and  outraged, 
not  only  on  railroads,  but  wherever  they  were,  if  they 
presumed  to  exercise  the  plainest,  most  simple  of  the 
inalienable  rights  of  humanity.  In  some  towns,  I  am 
quite  certain  that  Salem  was  one  of  them,  lyceums 


332  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES. 

refused  to  sell  tickets  to  the  best  of  colored  men  and 
women.  Even  as  late  as  1845,  if  not  later,  Senator 
Sumnerand  Mr.  Emerson  refused  to  lecture  for  bodies 
so  bigoted  and  prescriptive,  and  their  reasons  for  so 
declining  were  in  the  newspapers.  At  my  first  meet 
ing  in  Salem,  prejudice  against  color  was  the  theme 
of  remark.  The  town  had  furnished  sufficient  reasons 
only  a  short  time  before  for  such  a  course.  On  the 
following  evening  we  held  our  meeting  in  a  commodi 
ous  lecture  room  under  Mechanics'  hall,  then  occu 
pied  on  Sundays  by  a  religious  society.  But  for  some 
reason  our  numbers  were  not  much  increased.  There 
was  at  that  time  a  general  determination  on  the  part 
of  leaders  in  state  and  church,  especially  the  latter,  to 
keep  the  people  from  coming  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  Reason  enough  surely,  for  the  course  so  soon 
to  be  adopted  by  Foster,  Beach  and  others,  of  going 
where  the  people  were. 

At  my  second  meeting,  I  threw  down  the  gauntlet 
to  new  organization,  by  a  direct  attack  on  the  hypo 
critical  pretensions  of  its  anti-slavery.  The  Howard- 
street  Congregational  church  had  had  for  its  minis 
ters,  Rev.  Geo.  B.  Cheever,  an  imprisoned  martyr,  a 
few  years  before,  for  bold  and  daring  faithfulness  in 
the  temperance  cause  ;  and  Rev.  Charles  T.  Torrey, 
who  had  left  it  a  few  years  before,  that  he  might  bet 
ter  serve  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  and  who  perished 
subsequently  in  a  Baltimore  prison,  for  the  offense,  as 
was  alleged,  of  going  into  the  south  to  incite  slaves 
to  run  away  from  the  plantations  to  Canada  or  the 
northern  states.  With  such  a  previous  record,  the 
Howard-street  church  had  set  itself  forth  as  a  model 
new  organization  anti-slavery  church,  and  I  proposed 
on  the  third  evening,  to  examine  its  claims,  not  only 
to  an  anti-slavery  character  at  all,  but  as  any  kind  of 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  333 

anti-slavery  instrumentality  worthy  the  respect  of  the 
slave  or  his  friends,  or  the  dread  or  fear  of  tyrants 
and  oppressors. 

The  next  evening  brought  together  many  more  than 
could  find  admission,  and  the  defenders  of  the  church 
appeared  in  force.  Some  were  communicants,  though 
many  more  were  not  ;  but  all  seemed  inspired,  or  im 
pelled,  or  influenced  by  the  same  spirit,  and  of  what 
manner  of  spirit,  the  evening  was  to  disclose. 

It  was  claimed  for  the  church  that  six  or  seven 
years  before  it  had  passed  and  registered  a  resolution 
of  refusal  to  hold  Christian  communion  and  fellow 
ship  with  slave-holders.  It  was,  however,  shown  that 
the  member  of  the  church  who  presented  the  resolu 
tions,  had  since  lived  a  considerable  time  in  Tennes 
see  ;  was  in  business  among  slave-holders  there,  and 
lived  unmolested  ;  while  Birney,  Dresser,  Crandall 
and  others,  not  to  speak  of  the  murdered  Lovejoy, 
had  not  only  suffered  every  indignity,  almost,  short  of 
death,  but  had  finally  been  driven  away  from  the 
slave  states  altogether. 

My  direct  charges  against  the  church,  notwithstand 
ing  its  anti-slavery  resolutions  and  professions,  were, 

1.  That   its   minister   exchanged   pulpits   with   the 
other  Congregational  ministers  of  Salem  and  vicinity, 
many   of    whom    were    notoriously    pro-slavery,    and 
violently  opposed  the  whole  anti-slavery  movement. 

2.  When   the   church   celebrated   the    sacramental 
supper,  invitation  was  given  to  "  all  members  of  sister 
churches    in  regular   standing,"  to   sit    down    at   the 
table. 

3.  That  Howard-street  church  was  part  and  parcel 
of  the  Essex  countv  and    Massachusetts    associations 


334  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

of  Congregational,  ministers  and  churches  ;  all  or 
nearly  all  of  them  being  in  full  church  fellowship  with 
slave-holders. 

4.  That  it  contributed  its  money  to  the  support  of 
Bible,  missionary  and  tract  societies,  that  were  in  part 
managed  as  well  as  supported  by  slave-holders,  whose 
money  was  the  price  of  slaves  bought  and  sold  in  the 
market,  or  of  their  unpaid  and  unpitied  toil  under  the 
lash  of  cruel  task-masters. 

5.  That   both   its  meeting-house  and   vestry   were 
peremptorily    refused   us    for    anti-slavery    meetings, 
where  all  persons  present  were  to  have  equal  right   of 
speech  and  discussion. 

Such  were  my  allegations,  and  not  one  of  them  had 
to  be  proved,  for  every  one  was  admitted,  and  some  of 
them  with  unblushing  boasts  !  It  was  even  declared, 
by  one  influential  member  of  the  congregation,  that 
in  his  opinion,  if  a  colored  family  should  purchase  a 
pew  in  the  central  part  of  the  meeting-house,  a  dozen 
families  would  immediately  leave  the  society.  It  was 
doubtless  so.  Such  was  the  anti-slavery  of  the  How 
ard-street  church,  on  its  own  admissions  and  confes 
sions.  And  that  church  was  every  way  as  good  as  the 
average  churches  of  Massachusetts  and  of  New  En 
gland,  of  every  evangelical  denomination.  Instead  of 
meeting  my  charges,  the  defenders  of  the  church 
openly  accused  me  with  deliberately  meditating  the 
destruction  of  the  Christian  church,  ministry,  sabbath 
and  all  religious  institutions  ;  declared  the  Garriso- 
nians  were  doing  no  good  ;  were  arraigning  the 
churches  before  tribunals  of  ungodly  men  ;  were  in 
ducing  good  men  and  women  to  leave  their  churches, 
to  renounce  their  Bibles,  to  disregard  their  ministers, 
and  closed  his  harangue,  which  had  wrought  him  into 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  335 

a  high  state  of  excitement,  with  expressing  a  hope 
that  the  audience  would  not  be  influenced  by  any 
thing  I  should  say  during  the  meetings. 

Others  spoke  on  the  same  side  and  to  similar  pur 
port.  Late  in  the  evening,  Mr.  Remond  rose  to  re 
ply,  amid  much  tumult,  but  gave  way  for  an  adjourn 
ment  to  the  next  evening,  in  the  same  hall.  That  night 
came  the  crowd,  many  evidently  on  mischief  intent. 
The  exercises  were  opened  with  prayer  and  reading 
part  of  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  Matthew.  I  then 
made  a  few  remarks  on  the  anti-slavery  character  of 
the  Howard-street  church,  and  its  strange  defense  and 
defenders  of  the  previous  evening,  and  gave  way  for 
Mr.  Remond.  His  reply  to  the  charges  against  the 
abolitionists  and  his  eulogy  of  Mr.  Garrison,  as  the 
hero  and  champion  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise  and 
faithful  friend  of  the  colored  race  everywhere,  north, 
as  well  as  south,  was  one  of  the  most  earnest,  eloquent 
and  impressive  utterances  I  had  then  ever  heard  from 
human  lips,  no  matter  of  what  color  or  race. 

But  it  only  roused  the  rage  of  our  opponents.  The 
principal  defender  of  the  church  generally,  and  of  the 
Howard  church  in  special,  took  possession  of  the  floor 
and  he  and  his  troop  held  it  for  the  remainder  of  the 
evening.  On  announcing  my  appointment  for  the 
next  night,  I  was  interrupted  by  a  very  ruffianly  fel 
low  mounting  a  seat  and  declaiming  loudly,  "  You  can 
hold  another  meeting  in  this  hall,  only  on  condition 
that  you  say  nothing  about  Howard-street  church  nor 
any  other.  Our  excellent  and  brave  friend,  Mr. 
Josiah  Hayward,  who  had  attended  all  our  meetings, 
inquired  if  that  was  said  in  earnest  and  in  good  faith, 
and  was  answered  that  it  was,  and  was  peremptory. 
By  this  time  the  tumult  became  general ;  but  I  suc 
ceeded  in  obtaining  a  momentary  hearing,  and  pro- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

tested  against  occupying  any  house  or  hall  unless  the 
most  untrammelled  free  speech  was  permitted,  both 
sides  and  all  sides  having  hearing  on  the  subject  in 
hand,  and  insisted  that  any  church,  pulpit,  or  institu 
tion  that  could  not  bear  the  light  and  the  lightning  of 
such  investigation  and  examination,  was  a  dangerous 
element,  that  should  not  be  tolerated  in  any  govern 
ment.  Probably  not  half  I  said  was  heard  by  the  now 
maddened  crowd  that  thronged  every  possible  point  of 
available  space.  In  less  than  three  minutes  every 
slip  on  the  side  of  the  hall  occupied  by  the  men  from 
porch  to  platform  was  not  only  stove  down,  but  pul 
verized  almost  to  kindling  wood  ;  and  most  of  the 
lamps  were  extinguished  and  their  shades  and  reflect 
ors,  if  not  the  lamps  themselves,  mingled  in  the  gen 
eral  crash  and  destruction.  Then  the  other  side,  as 
the  women  rushed  forward  towards  the  platform, 
shared  similar  fate  ;  the  doors  and  entrance  were  so 
thronged  as  to  make  escape  impossible.  It  was  most 
fortunate  that  we  were  on  the  lower  floor,  so  that 
many  of  the  women,  greatly  terrified,  escaped  through 
the  windows.  One  fainted  quite  away  and  was,  with 
much  difficulty  restored  to  consciousness.  We  had 
almost  been  broken  up  an  hour  before,  by  a  false 
cry  of  fire  raised  in  the  vestibule,  but  the  full  chorus 
of  confusion  and  uproar  was  reserved  till  now.  I 
learned  next  day  that  my  friends  kept  watch  and  ward 
over  me,  having  reasons  to  fear  for  my  personal 
safety.  The  threatened  violence  was  not  offered,  how 
ever,  nor  had  it  once  occurred  to  me  that  I  was  in  the 
least  peril ;  in  all  those  days  of  darkness  and  danger, 
my  implicit  trust  was  in  non-resistance,  and  in  the 
infinite  wisdom  and  power  from  whence,  as  I  then 
fully  believed,  proceeded  that  sublime  inspiration. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  337 

But  we  and  our  meeting  were  not  all  that  suffered 
in  that  visitation  of  mob  violence.  While  all  the  proud 
and  popular  sectarian  meeting-houses  of  Salem  were 
closed  to  the  cry  of  the  enslaved,  and  to  us  who  had 
espoused  their  cause,  Rev.  Mr.  Comings  threw  open 
the  doors  of  the  hired  hall  of  his  free  church  and 
society,  and  cordially  invited  us  in,  charging  no  rent 
beyond  cost  of  warming  and  light  ;  but  seeing  the 
general  storm  of  opposition  raised  against  us,  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  Mechanic  Hall  immediately 
passed  the  following  order  : 

Voted  unanimously  :  That  the  Salem  Free  church 
be  requested  to  vacate  the  room  occupied  by  them  in 
Mechanic  Hall  forthwith,  and  that  the  Secretary  be 
ordered  to  notify  them  by  sending  a  copy  of  tl^is  vote. 

Pursuant  to  the  above,  I  hereby  notify  you  that  1 
shall  take  possession  of  the  room  immediately  and 
request  that  you  will  cease  to  occupy  it  from  and  after 
this  day.  Yours  respectfully, 

HENRY  B.  GRAVES. 

Some  little  delay  was,  of  course  necessary,  to  pro 
cure  means  of  moving,  and  place  where  to  move  ;  but 
the  next  the  society  knew,  their  little  library  and 
whatever  else  they  possessed  there,  were  thrown  into 
the  street.  Their  rent  was  ever  paid  punctually  on 
the  day  it  was  due,  and  the  conditions  of  contract 
entitled  the  society,  as  we  were  assured,  to  three 
months'  notice  before  they  should  be  required  to 
vacate  the  premises.  So  here  was  exemplified,  what 
really  was  new  organized,  church  anti-slavery  ;  and 
the  best  of  it,  too.  Shut  out  of  its  meeting-houses, 
vestries,  chapels  and  every  place  they  controlled,  as 
remorselessly  as  from  any  others,  we  found  a  platform 
in  a  basement  hall,  secular  in  itself,  though  rented  by 
a  religious  society  for  its  Sunday  service,  and  there  we 
hoped  for  at  least  two  or  three  evenings,  we  might 


33^  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

enjoy  the  right  and  perform  the  duty,  undisturbed,  of 
pleading  the  cause  of  the  down-trodden,  despised  and 
oppressed  slaves.  And  with  such  results  as  are  here 
only  faintly  and  partially,  but  truthfully  described. 
Thus  desperately  determined  were  the  leaders  and 
chiefs  of  both  church  and  state'  to  prevent,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  spread  of  genuine,  uncompromising 
anti-slavery  truth. 

I  held  one  more  meeting,  but  had  to  return  to  the 
colored  people's  Bethel  where  the  series  began;  and  it 
should  be  said  to  the  credit  of  that  little  despised 
church  and  society,  that  their  conduct  throughout  the 
whole  scene,  was  noble,  manly,  womanly,  brave  and 
heroic  to  the  last  degree,  though  subjected  at  times  to 
insult  and  outrage  almost  too  shameful  for  human 
nature  to  endure.  The  last  meeting  was  as  riotous  as 
either  of  the  others,  though  the  noise  was  mostly  in 
the  porch  and  outside,  though  not  all.  One  old  dea 
con,  who  need  not  be  named,  as  he  must  have  been 
dead  many  years,  abused  the  colored  people  grossly 
in  his  talk.  But  he  was  let  off  as  he  deserved,  as  he 
doubtless  felt  most,  with  a  silent  contempt.  I  was 
told  that  he  was  frequently  guilty  of  similar  behavior 
towards  the  people  of  color,  though  many,  if  not  most 
of  them  in  the  town,  were  in  every  way  his  superiors. 

One  woman,  compelled  by  sickness  to  leave  the 
meeting,  was  roughly  assaulted  in  the  porch,  her  cap 
and  bonnet  were  torn  off,  and  her  dress  otherwise 
badly  damaged.  An  inoffending  colored  young  man 
was  also  attacked  in  the  porch,  knocked  down  and 
then  pitched  headlong  into  the  street  ;  he  gathered 
himself  up  and  ran,  but  was  chased.  In  the  dark,  he 
threw  a  stone  at  his  pursuers,  which,  if  it  hit,  did  not 
hurt  so  badly  as  to  prevent  the  ruffian  from  prosecut 
ing  him  and  bringing  him,  next  morning  into  court.. 


ACTS    OF    A^7TI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  339 

The  case  was  brought  before  Hon.  J.  G.  Waters.  I 
attended,  determined  if  possible  to  see  justice  done. 
To  my  surprise  and  satisfaction,  Judge  Waters,  after 
patient  hearing  of  the  parties,  dismissed  the  case, 
severely  reprimanding  the  complainant,  and  telling 
him  he  was  the  offender,  and  more  deserved  punish 
ment  than  the  young  man  he  had  arrested. 

Thus  terminated  my  first  anti-slavery  visit  to  that 
ancient  town.  I  had  good  reasons  to  believe  my 
humble  services  were  not  lost  upon  it  ;  Essex  county 
became  famous  in  the  cause  of  true  and  unfaltering 
anti-slavery,  and  even  its  political  abolitionists,  some 
of  them,  were  of  the  very  bravest  and  best.  Its 
Evangelical  pulpits  were  always  conservative,  some  of 
them  even  bitterly  so  ;  the  Unitarians  and  Universal- 
ists  furnished  some  eminent  exceptions ;  and  the 
names  of  Thomas  T.  Stone,  Samuel  Johnson,  John 
L.  Russell  and  Willard  Spalding  will  always  be  had  in 
honor  as  the  unfaltering  friends  of  radical,  uncom 
promising  anti-slavery. 

But  returning  to  the  narrative,  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  by  readers  that  the  incidents  related  here, 
though  numerous,  are  only  representative  of  thousands 
which  will  never  be  recorded  ;  or,  as  is  hyperbolically 
declared  in  the  new  Testament  of  the  works  of 
another,  "  the  world  itself  might  not  contain  the  books 
which  should  be  written  ;  "  for  our  conflict  extended 
over  thirty  years. 

A  day's  work  and  its  incidents,  in  which  I  had 
a  partner,  a  quiet  young  beginner  in  the  service, 
will  not  be  inappropriate,  as  following  the  scenes  and 
experiences  of  Salem. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1852,  I  made  a  little  tour  in 
the  state  of  Maine,  in  which  I  was  joined  by  Alonzo 
J.  Grover,  now  an  eminent  lawyer  at  the  west.  He 


340  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

was  then  in  the  course  of  his  studies,  but  well  up  in 
anti-slavery  knowledge,  interest  and  earnestness.  On 
a  snowy,  sleety,  windy  morning,  we  arrived  in  Bruns 
wick,  perfect  strangers  to  every  human  inhabitant. 
Dropping  our  not  capacious  valises  at  a  corner  gro 
cery,  we  ventured  out  to  reconnoitre,  with  a  view  to 
an  evening  meeting.  The  low,  level  land  was  covered 
with  the  melting  and  melted  snow  and  mud,  making 
walking  disagreeable,  indeed.  And  we  were  not  sorry 
that  no  suitable  place  within  our  means,  could  be  had 
for  our  lectures,  as  it  would  be  nearly  impossible,  un 
der  such  circumstances,  to  secure  attendance  and 
a  collection  that  would  pay  the  expenses  of  the  hall.. 
So  after  an  hour  or  two  of  prospecting,  under  much 
difficulty  and  discouragement,  we  concluded  to  aban 
don  Brunswick,  with  its  college  and  churches,  and 
try  what  Freeport,  the  next,  and  much  smaller  place,, 
might  do  for  us. 

The  skies  were  still  scowling,  and  some  large  snow- 
flakes  continued  to  fall,  melting,  mostly,  as  they 
reached  the  ground.  It  was  ten  o'clock,  or  after, 
when  we  picked  up  our  satchels  and  set  out  for  Free- 
port,  seven  or  eight  miles  off.  The  walking  was  bad, 
of  course  ;  but  my  companion  was  young  and  val- 
liant,  and  I  had  not  then  grown  old.  By  two  o'clock 
we  reached  our  destination,  having  been  on  our  feet 
nearly  five  and  a  half  hours,  the  ground  cold  and  wet 
and  snow  falling  most  of  the  time.  And  the  Bruns 
wick  heart  and  hospitality  were  colder  and  more  re 
pelling  than  the  weather.  Our  first  inquiry  on  reach 
ing  Freeport,  was  for  a  hall.  We  soon  found  one  of 
unattractive  appearance,  over  a  store,  entered  by  a 
flight  of  outside  stairs.  It  had  no  seats,  only  round 
the  sides,  being  used  mainly,  probably,  for  dancing. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  34! 

We  could  have  it  in  the  evening,  seating,  warming  and 
lighting  it  ourselves,  for  some  small  sum,  probably 
not  more  than  one  dollar. 

Our  next  business  was  to  give  notice.  For  that 
purpose,  after  posting  a  written  bill  or  two  at  the  post- 
office,  and  another  store,  we  entered  the  street,  begin 
ning  at  one  end,  one  of  us  on  one  side  and  the  other 
on  the  opposite,  and  walked  its  entire  length,  calling 
and  leaving  word  at  every  house.  That  occupied  an 
hour  or  more,  bringing  us  to  the  middle  of  the  after 
noon.  We  did  not  forget  that  we  had  not  dined,  but 
till  our  hall  was  secured  and  the  people  notified  of  our 
meeting,  dinner  had  to  wait.  We  dined  for  a  few 
cents,  on  such  crackers  and  cheese  or  herrings  as  the 
grocery  afforded,  no  unusual  occurrence  with  us  in 
those  days,  and  then  proceeded  with  our  evening  prep 
arations.  There  being  no  tavern  in  the  town,  we 
first  looked  up  lodgings  for  the  night.  A  woman  who 
kept  a  few  boarders  consented  to  entertain  us,  though 
we  told  her  that  having  just  dined,  we  should  need  no 
supper,  and  might  not  call  on  her  till  after  the 
meeting. 

Returning  to  our  hired  hall,  we  called  at  a  house 
where  there  was  plenty  of  dry  wood,  and  paid  the 
owner  a  four-pence-ha'-penny  for  as  much  as  wre 
could  carry  in  our  arms,  and  that  furnished  our  even 
ing  fire.  Then  for  seats,  we  borrowed  some  soap  or 
candle  boxes  of  the  store-keeper,  who  seemed  much 
to  admire  our  thrift,  and  with  a  few  boards  laid  on 
them,  that  need  was  met.  It  now  only  remained  to 
procure  the  light.  For  that,  we  bought  a  pound  of 
tallow  candles,  ten  to  the  pound,  and  the  good-natured 
store-keeper,  I  am  sorry  to  have  forgotten  his  name, 
threw  us  in  five  good-sized  potatoes,  out  of  a  barrel, 
which,  slashed  in  halves  and  bored,  made  ten,  not  the 


342  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

apocalyptic  "golden,"  but  good  and  sufficient  candle 
sticks.  This  was  nothing  new  with  us.  I  often 
lighted  halls  in  that  way.  Once,  I  well  remember,  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  only  with  this  difference,  that  round 
turnips  were  used  instead  of  potatoes. 

It  was  almost  dark  when  our  preparations  were 
completed,  so  we  kindled  the  fire,  lighted  a  candle, 
and,  contentedly  enough,  sat  down  for  a  little  rest, 
before  the  meeting  should  commence 

It  was  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  in  a  small  coun 
try  village,  the  day  had  been  stormy  or  cloudy,  dark 
ness  came  on  early,  and  so  did  our  audience.  It  was 
composed  wholly  of  men  and  boys.  That  was  neither 
new  nor  strange.  No  anti-slavery  meeting  had  ever 
been  held  or  attempted  there  before,  so  far  as  we 
could  learn.  Others  might  be  held  possibly  to  excel 
lent  purpose.  We  were  respectfully  heard,  so  soon  as 
we  could  get  understood.  As  no  women  were  pres 
ent,  some  did  not  hasten  to  put  away  their  cigars  when 
we  commenced  speaking.  "  Chewing  the  cud  "  seemed 
almost  as  common  as  among  the  cattle  in  the  stall. 
Neither  was  that  any  surprise  ;  seeing  it  as  we  had 
from  our  boyhood,  in  even  the  meeting-houses  on 
Sunday,  as  well  as  in  the  pulpits  and  pews.  Generally 
if  we  asked  for  a  collection  something  would  be 
raised,  at  least  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  hall.  In  this 
instance,  as  we  traveled  into  and  out  of  town  on  foot, 
and  paid  but  sixteen  and  a  quarter  cents  for  fire  and 
lights,  and  a  very  small  fee  for  the  room,  I  have  for 
gotten  how  little,  we  surely  were  not,  so  far,  much 
out  of  pocket.  What  our  boarding-house  charges 
would  be,  we  had  not  then  ascertained.  But  we  did 
learn,  a  few  minutes  later,  when  we  put  out  our  can 
dles,  and,  valises  in  hand,  presented  ourselves  at  the 
door.  We  were  permitted  to  enter  and  sit  down. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  343 

Then  our  prudent  hostess  told  us  that  had  she  known 
what  was  the  object  of  our  "going  about,"  and  what 
sort  of  lectures  we  gave,  she  should  not  have  con 
sented  to  take  us  into  her  house.  Her  family,  she 
said,  were  bitterly  opposed  to  us  and  our  work  ;  and 
a  good  deal  more  in  similar  tone  and  spirit.  But  as 
there  was  no  other  place  where  we  could  get  in,  she 
would  keep  us  over  night,  though  we  must  leave  as 
soon  as  we  were  up  in  the  morning.  We  staid. 

Supperless  to  bed  and  breakfastless  on  the  road 
next  morning,  baggage  in  hand,  and  almost  before  the 
villagers  were  any  of  them  abroad,  was  prettv  rugged 
discipline  for  my  new  comrade,  but  he  bore  it  well  ; 
and,  doubtless,  should  he  write  a  sketch  of  that  day 
and  night  adventure  he  would  enliven  it  with  many 
incidents  which  have  escaped  my  recollection,  or 
which,  for  sake  of  brevity,  I  have  omitted,  and  yet  it 
was  in  no  important  sense  peculiar  or  unusual.  Every 
earnest,  faithful,  anti-slavery  lecturer  in  those  dark 
and  often  perilous  days,  encountered  the  same  or  much 
more  disagreeable  every  week,  all  the  year  through, 
especially  when,  as  we  were  then,  breaking  in  to  new 
and  unexplored  fields. 

But  older  and  more  cultivated  grounds  did  not  al 
ways  greet  the  coming  of  the  apostle  with  anything 
like  the  Hebrew  strain  :  "  How  beautiful  upon  the 
mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  who  bringeth  good 
tidings,"  as  the  following  account  of  a  Portland  meet 
ing  proves  : 

The  autumn  of  1842  was  memorable  for  the  vigor, 
earnestness  and  success,  too,  of  the  anti-slavery  move 
ment  in  eastern  Massachusetts  and  eastern  New 
Hampshire.  Extensive  accounts  of  meetings  and 
movements  in  Lynn,  Salem,  Danvers,  Georgetown  and 


344  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES. 

Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  and  of  Exeter,  Dover 
and  Great  Falls,  in  New  Hampshire,  have  been  al 
ready  given. 

But  Portland,  Maine,  shared  in  the  great  and  good 
work.  It  made  itself  more  conspicuous,  too,  by  its 
violent  opposition  to  our  word  and  work,  than  any 
place  we  visited  in  any  state  named.  It  did  not,  like 
some  other  towns,  arrest,  fine  and  imprison,  but  its 
mob-malice  and  rage  did  contemplate  actual  murder, 
and  the  wonder  is  how  its  myrmidons  were  restrained 
from  their  fell  purpose.  This  report  will  be  con 
densed  mainly  from  the  Portland  newspapers  them 
selves.  Papers  not  identified  with  the  Garrisonian  en 
terprise.  In  September  of  the  year  mentioned,  Stephen 
S.  Foster  and  Rev.  John  Murray  Spear  held  a  sejies 
of  meetings  and  discussions  on  slavery  in  the  city 
hall,  Mr.  Foster  the  principal  speaker.  Mr.  Spear  had 
been  for  some  dozen  or  fifteen  years  a  Universalist 
minister  in  different  Massachusetts  towns,  New  Bed 
ford,  Hyannis  and  Weymouth  chiefly,  when  the  tidal 
wave  of  anti-slavery  reached  his  pulpit  and  swept  him 
onward  into  the  foremost  billows  of  that  then  tempes 
tuous  movement.  For  some  thirteen  years  he  did 
faithful  service  in  the  cause  of  the  enslaved,  suffering 
severe  persecution  in  their  .behalf,  even  before  he 
abandoned  the  pulpit,  which  he  did  not  do  till  he  had 
labored  long  and  earnestly  to  bring  his  denomination 
up  to  an  uncompromising  and  inflexible  position  of 
hostility  to  slavery,  but,  like  many  other  ministers  in 
more  evangelical  denominations,  labored  in  vain.  A 
slave-holder  bringing  a  slave  girl  to  New  Bedford 
while  he  was  minister  there,  he  brought  her  case  be 
fore  Judge  Shaw,  of  the  supreme  court,. who  declared 
her  freedom,  she  being  no  longer  in  a  slave  state.  She 
nvailed  herself  of  the  opportunity.  Then  Mr.  Spear 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  345 

was  arrested  as  a  slave-stealer,  the  mob  howling  after 
him  as 'he  walked  the  street,  "  Nigger  stealer  !  Nig 
ger  stealer  !"  For  some  time  the  peace  of  the  town 
was  disturbed  ;  threatening  and  horrible  images  were 
hung  in  the  night  before  his  door,  and  his  life  was 
deemed  in  peril  while  the  agitation  lasted.  His  inter 
est  in  the  temperance  and  other  reforms  was  no  less 
than  in  anti-slavery,  and  he  subsequently  became,  in 
connection  with  his  brother,  Rev.  Charles  Spear, 
pioneer  in  a  grand  movement  in  the  interest  of  prison 
ers  and  of  discharged  convicts  ;  and  originated,  and 
for  years  edited  and  published  a  journal,  entitled  the 
Prisoner  s  Friend,  which  had  a  wide  circulation,  and 
was  productive  of  great  good.  In  later  years  Mr. 
vSpear  has  been  closely  associated  with  spiritualism, 
traveling  extensively  in  both  hemispheres,  including 
a  tour  to  the  Pacific  coast,  to  promote  its  interests. 

In  the  Portland  tumult,  so  far  as  appeared  by  the 
newspaper  accounts,  Mr.  Spear  does  not  seem  to  have 
given  any  offense,  but  being  found  in  bad  company 
he  was  made  to  suffer  accordingly.  On  the  way  to 
his  lodgings  he  was  violently  asaailed  and  barely 
escaped  with  his  life.  But  in  the  heavenly  home 
hospitality  and  care  of  Oliver  and  Lydia  Dennett, 
surrounded  with  other  ministering  spirits  of  the  city, 
who  watched  around  him,  he  was,  after  seven  weeks, 
restored,  though  I  am  assured  his  attendants  once 
gathered  at  his  bedside  expecting  to  witness  the 
closing  scene  of  his  earthly  existence. 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  series,  in  which  Mr.  Fos 
ter  was  to  speak,  as  previously  announced,  on  "  The 
Influence  of  Southern  Slavery  in  the  Northern  States," 
was  witnessed,  the  Portland  American  declared  : 
"  One  of  the  most  disgraceful  riots  ever  seen  in  Port 
land.  Mr.  Foster  commenced  his  remarks  in  a  very 


346  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

mild  and  conciliatory  manner,explaining  the  reasons  for 
his  peculiar  mode  of  address,  and  saying  that  he  was 
a  friend  to  the  laboring  classes,  and  was  a  working- 
man  himself.  During  his  introduction  he  was  con 
stantly  interrupted  by  singing,  hissing,  hooting,  by 
insulting  remarks  and  throwing  of  rotten  eggs.  The 
patience  with  which  the  audience  bore  the  insolence 
of  these  reckless  scoundrels  induced  them  to  proceed 
farther.  The  benches  were  broken,  a  general  fight 
commenced,  and  a  rush  was  made  for  the  speaker. 
Our  citizens,  however,  formed  a  solid  phalanx  around 
the  desk,  rendering  it  unapproachable.  The  mob 
pressed  on  like  blood  hounds  for  their  victim.  Shouts 
were  heard,  '  Hand  him  over  !  Hand  him  over  !  We 
want  the  blood  of  the  d — m — d  scoundrel.  Murder 
the  d — m — d  abolitionist/  and  other  expressions 
equally  characteristic  of  the  temper  and  intentions  of 
the  miscreants.  The  mayor  was  present  and  ordered 
them  to  leave  the  hall.  After  a  great  deal  of  effort 
he  succeeded  in  clearing  the  place.  A  false  alarm  of 
fire  was  raised,  calling  off  a  few,  but  the  mob  remained 
in  a  solid  body,  watching  at  each  flight  of  steps  and 
around  the  windows  for  the  lecturer. 

At  length,  when  it  was  supposed  that  they  had  dis 
persed  somewhat,  he  was  taken  out  under  protection 
of  the  mayor  and  several  brave  ladies,  to  the  house  of 
a  friend,  followed  by  some  five  hundred  persons.  He 
was  several  times  struck  on  the  face  and  back  of  his 
head  and  seriously  injured.  We  regret  to  add  that 
there  were  some  men  of  respectable  appearance  whom 
we  saw  and  heard  encouraging  the  mob  by  their  voices. 
One  old  man  in  broadcloth  we  mean  espe 
cially  ;  whose  gray  hairs  should  warn  him  that  it  is 
time  he  were  thinking  of  other  things  than  depriving 
a  freeman  of  liberty  of  speech.  One 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  347 

man,  while  the  rioters  were  already  worked  up  to  the 
fury  of  madmen,  shouted  at  the  top  of  his  lungs, 
'  Turn  him  out ;  bring  a  pot  of  lampblack/  and  then 
grossly  and  vilely  insulted  the  stranger  in  language 
too  foul  for  our  columns.  *  *  Since  the 
above  was  in  type,  the  captain,  of  whom  we  spoke  in 
our  description  of  the  mob,  called  and  discontinued 
his  paper,  but  admitted  all  we  charged  upon  him  ex 
cept  the  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  lungs." 

Another  article  from  the  same  paper,  commenting 
on  the  Portland  Advertiser  s  notice  of  the  affair,  says  : 
"  The  Advertiser  s  notice  of  the  riot  was  one  of  the 
most  cold-blooded  things  we  have  seen.  Hear  it  : 
'  Last  evening  our  city  was  threatened  with  a  mob. 
The  noted  S.  S.  Foster  has  given  two  or  three  lectures 
on  such  topics  as  he  sees  fit  to  connect  with  abolition, 
and  the  city  hall  was  thronged  last  night  with  a  mixed 
multitude,  including  some  females,  mostly  composed, 
as  we  judge,  of  those  who  were  inclined  to  stop  his 
excitable  harangue.  Some  of  the  friends  of  the  lecturer 
took  such  measures  to  check  the  disturbances  that  the 
crowd  proceeded  to  acts  of  violence,  which  broke  up 
the  meeting.  A  good  many  blows  were  aimed  on  both 
sides.  As  \ve  believe  no  one  was  seriously  hurt,  we 
do  not  go  into  the  disagreeable  details.'  So  much  for 
the  Advertiser.'1'' 

To  which  the  American  responds  :  "  Monstrous  ! 
Our  peaceful  city  was  only  *  threatened  with  a  mob!' 
There  was  no  mob.  Oh  no  !  Those  who  rushed  to 
wards  the  desk  and  demanded  the  life,  aye,  the  life, 
for  we  heard  and  saw  the  whole,  the  life  of  the  speaker, 
who  broke  settees,  threw  rotten  eggs,  knocked  Mr. 
Foster  down  in  the  street,  struck  him  some  twenty 
times,  and  who  surrounded  the  house  where  he  staid, 
threatening  destruction  to  its  inmates,  these  miscreants 


348  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

did  not,  in  view  of  the  Advertiser,  constitute  a  mob  ! 
*  *  The  charge  that  'the  friends  of  the  lecturer 
took  such  measures  to  check  the  disturbance  that  the 
crowd  proceeded  to  acts  of  violence/  is  false.  After 
the  crowd  had  commenced  throwing  missiles  at  the 
speaker  ;  after  the  riot  had  commenced  ;  after  the 
rioters  had  been  repeatedly  urged  to  be  quiet,  a  young 
gentleman  rose  and  moved  that  they  be  expelled  from 
the  house.  They  went  there  with  the  previously  ex 
pressed  determination  to  break  up  the  meeting,  and 
to  do  the  lecturer  bodily  injury." 

Such  accounts  did  the  Portland  papers  give,  and 
such  were  received  as  substantially  correct.  Mr.  Fos 
ter  had  his  story  to  tell,  and  so  had  Mr.  Spear,  and 
so  had  their  anti-slavery  friends.  To-day,  after  a 
lapse  of  more  than  forty  years,  little  idea  is  likely  to 
be  formed  of  such  scenes  as  were  then  and  there,  and 
often  elsewhere,  enacted.  Foster  had  offended  most, 
and  so  was  most  hated  and  hunted.  Spear,  though 
not  less  faithful  when  he  did  speak,  had  given  less 
offense,  and  so  was  not  deemed  in  such  danger,  and 
was  less  vigilantly  shielded,  and  thus  came  nearest  to 
losing  his  life.  Foster  suffered  in  person  and  apparel, 
though  his  friends,  brave  women  as  well  as  men,  hov 
ered  all  about  him,  taking  off  his  spectacles,  changing 
his  hat,  and  in  other  ways  disguising  him.  He  wore 
at  the  time  a  dress  instead  of  frock  coat,  the  skirts  a 
little  elongated,  as  was  the  style.  A  ruffian  contrived 
to  get  hold  of  one  skirt  and  tore  it  squarely  off,  leav 
ing  the  other  dangling  alone,  looking  grotesquely 
enough.  But  that  he  turned  to  excellent  account,  for 
he  wore  it  weeks  afterwards  wherever  he  went  to  tell 
its  own  tale.  And  surely,  "  thereby  hung  a  tale  "  of 
sublime  import.  The  coat  was  kept  in  the  family  for 
years  as  a  significant  trophy  of  honorable  war.  But 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  349 

he  suffered  severely  in  person.  Mr.  Rogers,  James  N. 
Buffum,  myself,  and  others  were  holding  a  five  days' 
convention  at  Great  Falls,  New  Hampshire,  forty  miles 
from  Portland,  and  Foster  was  expected  to  be  with  us 
a  part  of  the  time,  but  detained  longer  at  Portland 
than  was  expected,  he  was  late  in  reaching  us.  When 
at  length  he  came,  his  appearance  on  entering,  with 
ragged  raiment,  with  sickly,  worn  and  weary  cast  of 
countenance,  stirred  every  heart  and  moved  many  to 
tears.  Mr.  Rogers,  in  his  account  of  the  Great  Falls 
convention  in  the  Herald  of  Freedom,  thus  spoke 
of  it  : 

"  On  Thursday,  in  the  midst  of  our  discussions,  the 
meeting  was  deeply  stirred  by  the  entrance  of  Foster 
from  Portland.  His  countenance  pale  and  distressed 
but  not  cast  down,  and  his  garments  torn  off  of  him, 
fresh  from  the  hands  of  a  terrible  mob.  I  can  here 
only  say  he  was  greeted  with  most  affectionate  inter 
est  by  the  meeting,  and  listened  to  in  the  account  he 
gave,  at  the  request  of  the  assembly,  of  the  scenes  he 
had  just  passed  through,  with  solemn  attention." 

But  there  were  encounters  sometimes  more  trying 
to  flesh  and  blood  than  mobs.  Just  as  the  last  word 
was  written  on  the  scenes  at  Portland,  chance  threw 
before  me  the  Liberator,  of  April  16,  1852,  containing 
the  following  letter,  which  the  editor  headed  truly 
enough,  "  One  Week's  Experience  of  a  'Field  Hand.'  " 

DEAR  FRIEND  GARRISON — I  will  write  you  the  ex 
perience  of  the  past  week.  You  need  not  publish  it, 
unless  you  choose.  Sometimes  we  have  such  weeks 
in  the  field  service,  in  spite  of  all  forecasts  and  pro 
visions  to  prevent  them. 

I  left  Lawrence  on  Monday  morning  on  a  tour 
eastward.  In  the  evening  of  that  day  I  lectured  to  a 
respectable  audience  in  Rochester,  N.  H.  Tuesday 


350  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

morning  we  were  whirling  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the 
most  violent  snow  storms  of  the  whole  winter.  At 
three  in  the  afternoon  I  took  the  cars  for  Great  Falls, 
where  were  to  be  meetings  in  the  evening,  and  the 
evening  following.  On  account  of  an  accident  the 
train  consisted  only  of  freight  cars,  into  one  of  which 
we  were  all  stowed,  men,  women  and  children,  as  live 
stock  goes  to  Brighton. 

Arrived  at  the  Falls,  I  wallowed  about  in  the  snow 
and  slush,  the  storm  still  continuing,  in  search  of  some 
one  who  could  give  me  tidings  of  the  meetings.  But 
it  came  out  that  none  had  been  appointed,  nor  any 
arrangements  made.  Mr.  Grover  was  to  have  been 
with  me,  but  the  snow  storms  and  drifts  hindered  the 
cars,  so  I  took  the  business  into  my  own  hands  alone. 
By  floundering  through  the  deep  snow  and  water  for 
a  time,  I  learned  that  the  only  place  we  could  possi- 
sibly  obtain  was  Central  hall.  I  found  the  proprietor, 
and  he  told  me  it  could  be  had  at  six  dollars  an  even 
ing,  though  he  afterwards  said  he  did  let  it  for  five 
dollars  sometimes.  Before  I  had  time  to  put  in  my 
plea  of  poverty,  he  told  me  it  was  to  be  occupied  so 
many  evenings,  that  my  own  preengagements  were 
such  as  to  end  the  whole  matter.  Thus  terminated 
the  mission  at  Great  Falls. 

Having  had  no  appointment  made  for  Thursday 
evening,  I  was  induced,  by  my  friends  in  Rochester, 
to  return  and  hold  one  more  meeting  there.  The 
failure  at  the  Falls  gave  me  Wednesday  evening  also, 
and  so,  on  short  notice,  I  called  a  meeting  for  that 
evening  too.  By  this  time  Friend  Grover  had  arrived, 
and  spoke  the  whole  of  Wednesday  evening,  to  a 
small  but  attentive  audience.  He  left  next  morning 
to  go  on  to  Portland.  At  the  appointed  hour  on 
Thursday.  I  went  to  the  hall.  Not  a  soul  was  there, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  351 

nor  body  even — for  they  do  not  always  come  together. 
Nearly  an  hour  afterwards  my  audience  had  not  in 
creased  in  the  least.  It  was  Fast  Day  and  the 
people  were  keeping  such  fast  as — they  had  chosen. 
Such  was  the  termination  at  Rochester. 
.  On  Friday  morning,  I  set  off  for  Kennebunk,  the 
place  of  my  appointment.  At  the  Kennebunk  depot, 
I  inquired  for  the  persons  to  whom  we  had  written, 
and  found  they  lived  five  miles  distant.  I  also  learned 
that  nobody  lived  nearer  to  whom  I  could  apply,  and 
that  no  place  could  be  had  in  town,  unless  it  were  a 
small,  remote  school-house,  for  even  a  fugitive  slave 
to  hold  a  meeting. 

Finally,  I  engaged  a  poor  man,  who  had  lost  both 
hands  and  arms,  by  the  premature  discharge  of  a  can 
non,  and  who  drove  his  horse  by  means  of  hooks  at 
tached  to  the  stumps,  to  carry  me  the  five  miles  to 
where  our  friends  lived.  The  day  was  dismal,  and 
the  riding  as  much  so.  But  we  arrived  at  last,  and  I 
was  set  down  in  the  center  of  a  clearing  of  a  few  hun 
dred  acres,  surrounded  almost  completely  by  a  low, 
thick  growth  of  pine  woods.  I  took  out  my  luggage, 
paid  my  fare,  and  made  up  to  the  house. 

My  repeated  knocking  brought  no  one  to  open.  I 
tried  the  door  and  found  it  fast.  The  other  door  was 
faster  yet.  Then  I  went  over  the  way,  and  inquired. 
The  young  woman  thought  the  family  were  gone  only 
a  mile.  The  old  lady  said  they  were  gone  away  to  a 
funeral,  several  miles,  and  had  been  gone  all  day. 

Here,  then,  I  was,  five  miles  from  Kennebunk  depot, 
still  farther  from  Saco,  the  next  nearest,  and  three  or 
four  miles,  at  least,  from  everywhere  else — all  alone, 
with  my  luggage,  the  skies  scowling  with  threatening 
clouds,  the  distant  forests  fencing  and  surrounding 
me  with  their  gloomiest  curtains,  and  the  almost  im- 


352  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

passable  roads  making  their  worst  faces  at  me,  and 
elongating  their  fearful  miles  to  immeasurable  extent. 
The  good  old  lady,  however,  insisted  on  my  eating 
dinner,  from  which  she  and  her  daughter  had  just 
risen.  Then,  with  both  hands  full  of  bags  and  bun 
dles,  I  set  off,  on  foot,  for  Saco,  five  or  six  miles. 

I  never  in  my  life  saw  such  intolerable  walking  in 
New  England.  The  soil,  much  of  the  way,  was  clay, 
and  the  frost  just  coming  out  of  it,  and  then  a  ming 
ling  of  snow,  it  made  a  complete  compound  of  Bun- 
yan's  "  Slough  of  Despond,"  "  Enchanted  Ground," 
"Hill  of  Difficulty,"  and  all  his  dragons.  The  cold 
north-east  wind,  too,  blew  full  in  my  face,  and  every 
sign  denoted  immediate  storm.  I  plunged  along  as 
fast  as  possible,  to  escape  that  additional  woe,  and 
reached  Saco  and  Biddeford  late  in  the  afternoon, 
possibly  somewhat  fatigued,  and  perfectly  parboiled  in 
perspiration.  It  was  a  pilgrimage  not  to  be  forgotten. 

The  week  has  gone — and  it  has  been  one  of  most 
uncommon  labor,  disappointment,  vexation  and  suffer 
ing.  I  have  lectured  to  everybody  who  came  near 
me,  but  my  labors  in  that  line  were  confined  to  Roch 
ester,  and  two  meetings.  My  traveling  expenses  have 
been  three  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents,  to  say  noth 
ing  of  my  walking,  which  was  worth  twice  as  much  ; 
my  receipts  have  been  one  dollar  and  jive  cents,  and  I 
have  not  procured  one  single  subscriber  to  the  Liber 
ator  nor  to  any  of  our  papers.  Such  is  the  experience 
of  one  week.  Who  would  not  be  a  soldier  in  such  a 
warfare  ? 

Yours,  still  full  of  hope  and  trust, 

PARKER    PILLSBURY. 
Portland,  April  12,  1852. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  353 

A.  J.  Grover  rejoined  me  in  Portland,  and  our  next 
campaign  included  Brunswick  and  Freeport,  of  which 
report  has  been  already  given. 

One  more  riotous  demonstration  should  have  place 
in  these  chronicles,  but  space  and  time  must  make  it 
both  brief  and  the  last.  It  occurred  in  Harwich,  Mass,. 
on  Sunday,  the  fourth  and  last  day  of  a  grand  anti-sla 
very  convention,  held  in  a  beautiful  grove,  in  Septem 
ber  of  the  year  1848.  No  building  on  the  Cape  could 
have  held  half  the  attendance.  Cape  Cod  at  that 
time  was  the  birth-place  and  nursery  of  more  sea-cap 
tains  than  any  other  portion,  of  equal  extent,  on  the 
whole  Atlantic  coast.  And  many  of  the  most  emi 
nent  of  them  were  early  able  and  faithful  friends  and 
supporters  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise. 

But  sea-captains  were  not  all  abolitionists,  else  the 
Harwich  Sunday  tumult,  in  defense  of  the  church  as 
"the  bulwark  of  slavery,"  would  not  have  transpired. 
The  constitution  of  the  country,  the  courts,  the  politi 
cal  parties,  the  commerce  and  trade,  had  all  been 
shown  to  be  conducted  in  the  interest  of  slavery,  and 
no  riotous  demonstration  appeared.  But  not  so  on 
Sunday,  when  the  churches  and  clergy  were  arraigned 
as  the  bulwark  and  forlorn  hope  of  the  accursed  in 
stitution.  The  mob  at  Harwich  was  the  result  of  an 
exposure  of  a  diabolical  deed  by  the  captain  of  a 
coaster,  sailing  between  Norfolk  and  New  York,  and 
other  northern  ports.  I  am  glad  to  have  forgotten 
his  name,  and  do  not  care  ever  to  hear  it  spoken 
again. 

But  while  in  Norfolk,  not  long  before  our  conven 
tion,  a  slave  came  on  board  and  asked  this  captain 
what  he  would  charge  to  carry  him  and  another  to 
New  York  or  Boston.  A  contract  was  made  for  one 
hundred  dollars — paid  in  advance.  The  captain 


354  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

pocketed  the  cash,  then  went  on  shore,  betrayed  the 
poor  slave,  had  him  arrested,  imprisoned  and  adver 
tised,  and  then  sailed  north,  bringing  the  hundred 
dollars. 

We  who  knew  the  slave  system,  could  imagine  the 
fate  of  the  imprisoned  victim,  though  we  never  heard 
what  it  was.  The  cruel  captain  never  told  us  that, 
though  undoubtedly  he  knew,  for  when  he  went  back 
to  Norfolk  he  carried  the  money,  found  the  owner, 
paid  him  over  the  hundred  dollars,  and  received  back 
twenty-five  as  his  reward  ! 

Twenty-five  dollars  for  a  deed  that  no  Modoc  nor 
Apache  Indian  under  heaven  would  ever  have  done  ! 
In  cold,  unprovoked  blood — never  ! 

Sunday  was  the  fourth  and  last  day  of  our  conven 
tion,  and  not  less  than  three  thousand  people  were  on 
the  ground.  Some  estimated  them  at  four  thousand. 

I  learned  all  the  facts  I  have  just  given,  from  the 
captain  himself,  early  in  the  day.  In  the  afternoon, 
when  the  crowd  was  the  greatest,  I  made  a  full  state 
ment  of  the  case,  in  words  as  fitting  as  were  then  at 
my  command.  Of  course  the  effect  on  the  audience 
was  intense,  but  dependent  on  the  estimate  which  dif 
ferent  persons  placed  on  the  transaction  between  the 
captain  and  his  helpless  victim. 

In  the  tumult,  the  captain  came  to  the  platform,  and 
not  having  heard  my  statement,  he  demanded,  in  great 
wrath,  who  it  was  that  accused  him  of  stealing  !  He 
said  somebody  had  just  told  him  he  had  been  accused 
of  stealing.  He  was  answered  that  his  name  had  not 
been  mentioned  there  ;  and  that  nothing  had  been 
said  about  stealing.  He  said  he  had  a  right  to  be 
heard,  and  wished  to  be  heard.  We  cheerfully 
accorded  him  the  platform.  He  came  forward,  and 
in  the  frankest,  blandest  manner,  stated  his  own  case 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  355 

in  his  own  words.  When  he  concluded,  we  invited  him 
to  a  seat  on  the  platform,  which  he  accepted. 

Stephen  Foster  spoke  next.  He  began  in  quite  a 
conversational  tone  to  say  :  Mr.  Chairman — We  have 
now  heard  from  his  own  mouth,  what  our  friend  had 
to  say  of  the  matter  in  hand.  And  he  confirms  every 
statement  of  Mr.  Pillsbury,  excepting  one  :  he  has  not 
told  us  that  he  is  a  member  in  good  and  regular  stand 
ing  of  the  Baptist  church,  as  Mr.  Pillsbury  assured  us 
he  was.  Now  I  wish  to  ask  him  if  that  is  also  true. 
He  admitted  that  with  the  rest, 

Foster  then  opened  his  argument.  And  those  who 
ever  heard  him  can  more  easily  imagine  than  I  can 
describe,  its  power.  Every  eye  kindled,  every  heart 
throbbed,  with  admiration,  or  with  rage  and  wrath.  I 
had  often  heard  him  called  "a  son  of  thunder,"  before. 
At  that  moment,  he  seemed  Father  of  the  seven  thun 
ders  of  Patmos,  with  all  their  bolts  at  command.  He 
swayed  those  hundreds  and  thousands  as  prairie 
cyclones,  the  vast  fields  of  corn.  And  yet  the  cap 
tain,  really  on  trial,  listened  to  every  word  with  respect 
and  attention.  I  knew  he  heard  a  voice  within,  louder, 
more  eloquent  than  the  utterances  of  Foster,  and 
whose  rebuke  he  could  not  resist. 

The  mob  spirits  now  rushed  for  the  platform,  and 
with  oaths  and  curses  of  stunning  power,  called  on 
the  captain  to  pitch  him  down  to  them.  Their  num 
ber  seemed  legion  ;  and  their  nature  and  spirit  like 
that  other  legion,  known  of  old.  The  captain  mildly 
replied  to  them  that  he  wished  none  of  their  interfer 
ence  nor  defense.  He  left  the  platform  soon  after, 
and  moved  out  of  the  crowd,  and  held  a  long  conver 
sation  with  some  Boston  abolitionists,  who  had  come 
down  on  purpose  to  attend  the  convention.  And  he 
very  frankly  told  them  that  he  had  no  fault  to  find 


356  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

whatever  with  our  treatment  of  the  matter,  nor  of 
him.  Nor  did  he  ever  after  complain,  that  we  heard. 
Mr.  Foster  kept  his  feet  and  held  the  crowd  at  'bay, 
showing  our  religion  to  be  falsehood  and  hypocrisy, 
when  a  member  of  the  orthodox  church,  who  had  just 
come  from  his  meeting,  (and  it  was  said  from  the  sac 
rament),  leaped  like  a  lion  on  to  the  platform.  His 
eyes  flashed  fury  if  not  fire  ;  his  teeth  and  fists  were 
clenched,  and  he  seemed  a  spirit  from  the  pit,  who 
might  have  been  commissioned  to  lead  its  myrmidons 
in  a  deadly  fray,  for  such  a  faith  and  such  a  church  as 
his,  that  a  dozen  years  before  had  been  proved  by  one 
of  its  most  eminent  members, 

"THE  BULWARK   OF    AMERICAN  SLAVERY." 

He  asked  no  leave  to  speak  ;  paid  no  respect  to  pres 
ident  or  rules.  His  first  note  was  a  shriek.  "  It's  a 
lie  ;  what  you  say  is  a  lie  ;  a  damned  lie  !  and  I'll  de 
fend  the  church  ! " 

But  he  was  immediately  outvoiced  by  the  yelling 
troop,  who  leaped  like  tigers  at  his  heels,  as  into  the 
arena,  and  added  fearful  deeds  to  his  not  less  fearful 
words. 

What  became  of  my  platform  companions  I  did  not 
see.  I  was  immediately  seized,  and  with  kicks,  blows, 
and  dilapidated  clothing,  hurled  to  the  ground. 

There  lay  Captain  Chase  and  Captain  Smith,  of 
Harwich,  both  old  men,  who,  with  many  others,  had 
sprung  to  our  defense.  There  the  two  lay,  their  faces, 
covered  with  blood  !  They  were  both  radical  peace 
men,  and  only  remonstrated  with  our  remorseless  as 
sailants.  But  both  of  them  would  willingly  have  died 
in  our  stead,  or  in  our  defense.  Truer,  nobler  men. 
never  lived. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  357 

Havoc  was  soon  made  of  our  platform  and  what  it 
contained.  It  was  roofed  over,  but  a  temporary  struc 
ture,  for  officers  and  speakers,  and  aged  persons  who 
sought  its  convenience  and  comfort.  William  Wells 
Brown,  one  of  our  eloquent  fugitive  slave  lecturers, 
was  roughly  seized  up  and  pitched  over  back  of  the 
platform  by  the  infuriated  crowd,  down  some  six  or 
eight  feet,  and  left  to  his  fate.  Mr.  Foster  was  res 
cued  and  taken  away  from  danger — his  Sunday  frock 
coat  rent  in  twain  from  bottom  to  top,  and  his  body 
considerably  battered  and  bruised. 

Lucy  Stone  stood  heroically  with  the  rest  of  us, 
ready  for  any  fate.  But  her  serene,  quiet  bearing  dis 
armed  the  vulgar  villainy  of  our  assailants,  and  she 
escaped  unharmed. 

I  have  seen  many  mobs  and  riots  in  my  more  than 
forty  years  of  humble  service  in  the  cause  of  freedom 
and  humanity,  but  I  never  encountered  one  more  des 
perate  in  determination,  nor  fiendish  in  spirit,  than 
was  that  in  Harwich,  in  the  year  1848. 

And  that  mob  was  wholly,  directly  and  undeniably 
in  defense  of  the  American  church.  "  I'll  defend  the 
church,"  was  the  wild  shout  of  the  baptized 
ruffian  who  led  the  hordes,  as  he  vaulted  unbidden 
to  our  platform  of  moral  and  peaceful  agitation  and 
argument  in  behalf  of  our  enslaved  millions.  "I'll 
defend  the  church,"  and  his  infuriated,  yelling  and 
blaspheming  troop  followed  him,  and  commenced 
their  fell  work. 

Yes,  to  save  the  church  was  that  dire  scene  enacted. 
The  church  that  Judge  Birney  had  proved  out  of  her 
own  mouth  was  the  "bulwark  of  American  slavery  in 
everyone  of  her  largest,  most  popular  denominations  !" 
Church,  clergy,  and  theological  seminary,  everything, 


358  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

indeed,  under  ecclesiastical  control.  And  Hon.  James 
G.  Birney  was  surely  among  her  choicest  leaders  and 
brightest  lights. 

To  my  own  account  of  this  remarkable  scene,  per 
haps  should  be  subjoined  at  least  an  excerpt  of  the 
official  proceedings  of  the  convention.  The  follow 
ing  is  the  close  of  it  : 

Parker  Pillsbury  related  a  fact  illustrative  of  the 
truth  of  the  resolution  under  discussion  of  a  sea-cap 
tain,  of  Cape  Cod,  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church. 

Immediately  the  captain's  friends  reported  to  him 
that  he  had  been  slandered,  upon  the  platform,  and  in 
due  time  the  captain  presented  himself  and  demanded 
why  he  had  slandered  him,  on  that  platform  ?  He 
was  assured  that  his  name  had  not  been  spoken  by 
any  one  on  the  platform,  and  that  if  he  would  wait 
for  the  speaker  to  conclude  his  remarks  he  should 
have  opportunity  to  say  all  he  wished. 

Accordingly,  when  the  speaker  sat  down,  the  cap 
tain  took  the  platform,  and  stated  the  facts  precisely  as 
Pillsbury  had  done,  so  it  was  manifest  that  there  was 
no  slander,  nor  even  contradiction  between  them. 

S.  S.  Foster  then  proceeded  to  dissect  the  transac 
tion,  as  stated  by  the  captain  himself,  and  to  find  its 
moral  quality.  It  was  a  process  which  he  well  under 
stood,  nor  did  he  fail  to  expose  the  deformity  of  the 
deed,  and  cause  its  infamy  to  stand  out  in  fearful 
blackness  before  that  great  assembly.  The  captain 
said  he  had  nothing  to  reply,  and  left  the  platform  as 
quietly  as  he  had  come  upon  it,  saying  he  had  not 
come  there  to  make  any  disturbance.  Foster  then 
held  up  to  the  audience,  in  its  true  character,  the  re 
ligion,  under  whose  cherishing  influence  such  crimes 
take  root  and  grow,  and  asked  who  would  defend 
such  a  church  ?  At  that  moment  Captain  Stillman 
Snow,  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church  under 
the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  Cyrus  Stone,  (who  we  are 
credibly  informed,  went  about  among  his  people  and 
advised  them  to  stay  away  from  our  meeting),  this 
Captain  Snow,  steaming  from  his  own  meeting,  rushed 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  359, 

through  the  crowd  in  front  of  Foster,  screaming  at 
the  top  of  his  voice,  "  I'll  defend  the  church.  What 
you  say  is  a  lie,  a  damned  lie  ! "  His  lips  trembled, 
his  head  shook  upon  its  socket,  like  a  leaf  rattled  by 
the  winter  tempest,  while  his  countenance  looked  as 
if  the  genius  of  rage  had  his  dwelling  there.  He 
made  a  leap  at  Foster,  which  was  a  signal  for  his  allies. 
In  a  twinkling,  there  was  a  rush  upon  the  platform. 
W.  W.  Brown,  a  fugitive  slave,  was  seized  and  thrown 
over  the  high  back  of  the  platform,  where  he  was  tram 
pled  on  by  the  throng  gathered  there.  Pillsbury,  with 
torn  clothes,  was  dragged  from  the  platform,  receiv 
ing  as  he  went,  kicks  and  blows  from  those  behind  him. 
Those  in  front  of  him  were  harmless,  awed  by  his 
fearless  words,  and  undaunted  look. 

Again  and  again,  some  desperate  spirits,  with 
clenched  uplifted  fists,  swore  vengeance  and  destruc 
tion,  but  like  the  old  Roman,  Pillsbury  calmly  replied 
"strike,  but  hear  me."  While  he  was  thus  beset  on 
every  hand,  S.  S.  Foster  was  assailed  in  another  direc 
tion  no  less  violently.  At  the  first  onset  he  hastened 
Lucy  Stone  from  the  platform,  but  had  scarcely  time 
to  turn  about,  when  the  mob,  thirsting  for  his  blood, 
closed  in  around  him,  seizing  him  with  desperate  vio 
lence,  wherever  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon  him, 
and  though  they  did  not  "  part  his  garments  among 
them,"  they  quite  divided  his  coat.  For  a  few 
moments  the  most  terrible  confusion  prevailed — all 
ran,  without  knowing  whither  they  went — so  great 
was  the  excitement  that  neither  friends  nor  foes  recog 
nized  each  other.  One  friend  would  take  hold  of  the 
arm  of  Foster  for  his  protection,  and  another  friend 
would  pull  him  off  supposing  him  an  enemy. 

One  friend  would  step  forward  to  stay  an  uplifted 
blow,  and  another  friend  would  push  him  aside,  sup 
posing  that  he  intended  himself  to  strike.  The  scene 
baffled  all  description.  At  this  juncture  a  shout  was 
raised  that  they  were  riding  Foster  on  a  rail.  This 
false  cry  was  most  opportune  for  Brown,  who,  during 
the  whole  time,  had  been  dragged  and  trampled  by 
the  mob.  Now  his  tormentors  left  him  to  seethe  ruin 
of  Foster,  and  thus  he  made  his  escape, 'rifled  by  these 


360  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

pious  defenders  of  the  nation's  religion,  of  quite  a 
number  of  his  Anti-slavery  Harp.  Foster,  who  had 
been  surrounded  by  the  mob,  showed  no  sign  of  fear 
or  fright.  The  man  who  had  never  quailed  in  peril's 
blackest  hour,  was  not  the  man  now  to  tremble  or  flee. 
But  the  friends,  apprehensive  for  his  safety,  urgently 
solicited  him  to  leave  the  ground  ;  and  when  he  did 
not  manifest  a  disposition  to  go,  they  took  him,  with 
most  unpleasant  haste,  outside  the  grove,  aided  by  the 
mob,  who  were  pushing  terribly  in  the  rear,  and  on  all 
sides. 

When  Pillsbury  ascertained  that  Brown  and  Foster 
were  safe,  and  that  nothing  more  could  be  done,  he, 
too,  left,  taking  the  public  road  towards  the  house  of 
Captain  Small,  a  well-known  friend  of  the  oppressed. 
The  mobocrats,  who  had  returned  to  the  grove  howl 
ing  and  yelling  in  their  rage  and  disappointment,  that 
Foster  was  out  of  their  clutches,  when  they  found  that 
Pillsbury  was  leaving,  followed  in  hot  pursuit,  raising 
the  dust  higher  than  the  trees,  filling  the  air  with 
demoniac  screams  and  yells,  which  were  heard  at  the 
distance  of  more  than  a  mile,  and  frighful  enough  to 
make  Pandemonium  itself  pale.  They  rushed  on 
headlong  about  thirty  rods,  and  then,  though  Pills- 
bury  was  walking  only  a  short  distance  in  front  of  them, 
for  reasons  best  known  to  themselves,  they  turned  back 
to  the  grove,  cursing  as  they  went,  and  proceeded  to 
vent  their  rage  upon  the  platform,  which  they  soon 
demolished. 

While  they  were  tearing  up  the  planks  they  were 
uttering  most  dreadful  oaths,  and  vowing  vengeance 
on  the  lecturers,  (should  they  ever  make  their  appear 
ance  there  again)  who,  they  said,  had  assailed  their 
laws  and  their  religion,  which  they  were  going  to  de 
fend.  The  world  will  judge  what  kind  of  la-ws  and 
what  kind  of  religion  need  such  a  defense.  It  was  a 
proud  day  for  anti-slavery,  and  one  which  the  friends 
will  long  have  occasion  to  remember  with  gratitude. 
The  lecturers  were  not  particularly  disturbed  until  all 
had  been  said  which  they  wished  to  say,  until  every 
nail  was  driven  in  the  right  place,  and  then  the  mob 
clenched  them.  They  meant  their  violence  for  evil, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  361 

but  God  meant  it  for  good.  The  dragon's  teeth,  which 
they  were  then  unconsciously  sowing,  will  yet  come 
up,  a  host  of  true-hearted  anti-slavery  men  and  women, 
who  will  redeem  Cape  Cod  from  the  false  religion 
which  now  curses  and  enslaves  it.  Much  praise  is 
due  to  the  friends,  who  are  too  numerous  to  mention, 
who  so  nobly  stood  by  those  whose  lives  the  hungry 
mob  were  seeking.  Nor  would  we  fail  to  make  suita 
ble  mention  of  others,  who,  during  the  day  on  Sunday, 
were  active  in  exciting  the  mob  spirit.  Prominent 
among  them  was  Henry  C.  Brooks,  a  merchant  of 
Boston,  of  the  firm  of  Crowell  &  Brooks,  38  Commer 
cial  street,  son  of  Obed  Brooks,  Esq.,  of  Harwich. 

The  good  effect  of  the  mob  is  already  manifest  in 
the  increased  activity  and  interest  of  the  friends  on 
the  Cape,  whose  liberal  contributions  to  the  cause 
have  been  nearly  doubled,  and  who  see  new  reasons 
for  girding  themselves  to  more  vigorous  effort  in  be 
half  of  human  freedom. 

ZEBINA  SMALL,  President. 

CHARLES  STEARNS, 

LUCY  STONE, 

Secretaries. 

Only  time,  space  and  patience  of  readers  prevent 
insertion  of  the  whole  of  the  able  report  of  the  secre 
taries  of  that  phenomenal  convention.  Most  of  the 
names  of  the  rioters  mentioned  in  the  extract  given 
are  suppressed. 

No  other  mob  or  riot  will  be  described  in  this  work. 
Such  as  are  given  are  but  representative  of  many,  very 
many  ;  sortie  less  destructive  to  property  and  harmful 
to  person,  and  some  others  in  those  respects  a  great 
deal  worse. 

And  now,  wondrous  to  tell,  with  such  records,  the 
church  and  clergy  claim  and  boast  that  they  abolished 
slavery  !  The  real,  everlasting  truth  is,  we  had  almost 
to  abolish  the  church  before  we  could  reach  the  dread 
ful  institution  at  all.  We  divided,  if  we  did  not  de 
stroy.  Not  to  speak  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 


362  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Presbyterian  church  at  all,  we  did  divide  and  even 
subdivided  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church.  The  slavery  question  certainly 
produced  rupture  in  the  American  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  the  Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and 
the  American  Tract  Society,  as  has  been,  or  as  will 
be  shown.  If  it  be  said  that  it  was  their  own  internal 
heat  that  was  consuming  them,  the  answer  would  be 
it  was  not  light  and  fire  from  heaven,  the  divine  illum 
ination  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  their  differences  would 
not  have  been  so  easily  reconciled  by  surrendering  the 
whole  ground  to  the  enemy  ;  the  Northern  Methodist 
Conference  retaining  thousands  of  slave-holders  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  slaves,  and  six  of  the  very  largest 
of  the  slave  states,  besides  Delaware  and  Maryland. 
The  two  missionary  boards  and  tract  society  threat 
ened  at  one  time  some  separation  or  purification,  but 
to  what  purpose  will  be  made  to  appear 

The  institution  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  was  first  to  attempt 
a  new  standard  for  freedom  in  education  and  religion, 
irrespective  of  sex,  complexion  or  race,  with  a  pro 
fessedly  anti-slavery  board  of  teachers  and  directors. 
But  Oberlin  was  at  once  proscribed  by  the  great  bodies 
of  ministers  and  churches,  whose  fellowship  extended 
to  the  south.  And  even  Oberlin  never  so  much  as 
contemplated  any  separation  from  our  unhallowed 
union  with  slave-holders.  Instead  of  it,  under  an 
assumed  idea  or  pretence  that  the  constitution  was 
anti-slavery  and  not  pro-slavery,  an  assumption  that 
no  president,  congress  nor  supreme  court  nor  state 
legislature  nor  court  ever  believed  for  an  hour,  Ober 
lin  continued  loyal  to  the  government,  swore  by  itself 
or  elected  rulers  to  support  the  constitution,  and  then 
kept  the  oath  or  made  a  virtue  of  perjury  and  violated 
it  by  refusing  to  return  the  fugitive  slave. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  363 

And  scarcely  had  the  institution  reached  respecta 
bility  in  the,  estimation  of  more  declared  pro-slavery 
ecclesiastical  associations,  north  and  south,  before  the 
Infinite  Patience  was  exhausted,  and  with  the  bolts  of 
eternal  justice  stove  down  our  already  blood-besmeared 
idol,  and  buried  it  beneath  the  untimely  graves  of  half 
a  million  men  slain  in  a  thousand  battles,  their  mas 
sacred  commander-in-chief  and  president  of  the  nation 
with  his  own  heart's  blood,  sealing  the  sacrifice  ! 


CHAPTER     XIV. 

SOME  ACTS  OF  THE  PRO-SLAVERY  APOSTLES— PERSONAL 
ENCOUNTER  WITH  THE  HENNIKER,  N.  H.,  CHURCH  AND 
SUFFOLK,  MASS.,  ASSOCIATION  OF  MINISTERS— REV.  DR. 
BACON  AND  SON  ON  SLAVERY  AND  WHO  ABOLISHED  IT 
—THE  CHURCH  AND  CLERGY  IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR. 

It  is  time  to  draw  this  work  to  a  close.  It  was  un 
dertaken  with  extreme  reluctance  at  the  earnest  solici 
tation  of  those  whose  wishes  it  is  my  delight  to  obey, 
even  at  any  cost  of  personal  sacrifice  of  my  latest 
years,  only  if  the  cause  of  truth  and  the  demands  of 
history  be  also  subserved.  And  strict  truth  and  jus 
tice  to  everybody  concerned,  has  been,  and  shall  be  to 
the  end,  my  one  constant  study  and  care. 

The  next  chapter  may  be  called  "  Acts  of  the  Pro- 
Slavery  Apostles,"  and  will  have  respect  mainly  to  the 
connection  of  the  church  and  clergy  of  the  country 
with  the  slave  system.  Their  hostility  to  the  anti- 
slavery  enterprise  was  not  wakened  into  fierce  and 
general  opposition  till  slavery  was  not  only  declared  a 
SIN  ;  such  sin  as  that  no  slave-holder  could  be  a  Chris 
tian,  nor  worthy  to  be  fellowshipped  as  such,  whether 
south  or  north.  The  abolitionists  insisted  that  every 
church  and  pulpit  dictating  terms  of  sacramental  com 
munion  should  hold  the  man-steaier  as  just  so  much 
greater  criminal  than  the  felon  of  the  sheep-fold,  as 
a  man  is  better  than  a  sheep, remembering  who  He  was 
that  asked,  "  How  much  better  is  a  man  than  a  sheep  ?" 
And  our  warrant  for  this  judgment  came  from  the 
very  highest  evangelical  authority  the  church  could 
furnish.  Long  before  slavery  had  reached  the  pro- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  365 

portions  of  1834,  or  developed  half  its  prospective 
cruelties,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  had  officially  and  authoritively  taught,  citing 
as  their  scripture  basis,  the  first  epistle  of  Timothy, 
first  chapter,  ninth  and  tenth  verses  :  "  The  law  is 
made  for  manstealers.  This  crime  among  the  Jews 
exposed  the  perpetrators  of  it  to  capital  punishment. 
Exodus  xxi,  16  ;  and  the  apostle  classes  them  with 
sinners  of  the  first  rank.  The  word  he  uses,  in  its 
original  import,  comprehends  all  who  are  concerned 
in  bringing  any  of  the  human  race  into  slavery,  or  in 
retaining  them  in  it.  Stealers  of  men  are  all  those 
who  bring  off  slaves  or  freemen,  and  keep,  sell,  or 
buy  them.  To  steal  a  freeman,  says  Grotius,  is  the 
highest  kind  of  theft.  In  other  instances  we  only  steal 
human  property,  but  when  we  steal  or  retain  men  in 
slavery,  we  seize  those  who,  in  common  with  ourselves, 
are  constituted,  by  the  original  grants,  lords  of  the 
earth." 

In  1791,  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  D.  D.,  declared 
and  published  this  : 

"To  hold  any  man  in  slavery,  is  to  be  every  day 
guilty  of  robbing  him  of  his  liberty,  or  of  man-stealing. 
Fifty  years  from  this  time  (1791)  it  will  be  as  shame 
ful  for  a  man  to  hold  a  slave  as  to  be  guilty  of  com 
mon  theft  or  robbery."  And  John  Wesley  this  : 
•"  What  I  have  said  to  slave-traders  equally  concerns 
all  slave-holders  of  whatever  rank  and  degree  ;  seeing 
men-buyers  are  exactly  on  a  level  with  men- stealers ! 
Indeed,  you  say,  T  pay  honestly  for  my  goods  ;  and  I 
am  not  concerned  to  know  how  they  are  come  by.' 
Nay,  but  you  are  ;  you  are  deeply  concerned  to  know 
they  are  honestly  come  by  ;  otherwise  you  are  par 
taker  with  a  thief,  and  are  not  a  jot  honester  than  he. 
But  you  know  they  are  not  honestly  come  by  ;  you 


366  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

know  they  are  procured  by  means  nothing  near  so  inno 
cent  as  picking  pockets,  house-breaking,  or  robbery  upon 
the  highway.  You  know  they  are  procured  by  a  delib 
erate  species  of  more  complicated  villainy,  of  fraud, 
robbery,  nnd  murder  than  was  ever  practiced  by  Mo- 
homedans  or  Pagans.  In  particular  by  murderers  of 
all  kinds  ;  by  the  blood  of  the  innocent  poured  out 
like  water.  Now,  it  is  your  money  that  pays  the 
African  butcher.  You,  therefore,  are  guilty,  princi 
pally,  of  all  these  frauds,  robberies  and  murders." 

With  abundance  more  of  similar  character  and  from 
the  same  high  and  representative  sources,  so  that  the 
abolitionists  in  their  position  and  demand  were  only 
holding  the  church  and  pulpit  to  their  own  once  de 
clared  and  published  principles  on  slavery,  as  well  as 
always  on  every  other  acknowledged  sin. 

But  every  one  of  the  great  popular  denominations 
apostalized  as  slavery  grew  in  numbers  of  its  victims 
and  in  the  terrible  crimes,  cruelties,  tortures  and  tor 
ments,  incident  to  the  system,  and  became  directly 
implicated,  if  not  indeed  the  very  chief  of  sinners, 
themselves. 

What  then  could  true  Christian  abolitionists  do, 
whether  ministers  or  church  members,  but  come  out 
of  such  fellowship,  to  avoid  the  guilt  of  partaking  in 
the  sin  ?  Nothing  in  all  scripture  was  more  sublimely 
emphatic  than  the  apocalvptic  command,  "  Come  out 
of  her  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  in  her  sins, 
and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues."  And  among 
the  sins  charged  in  that  blood-guilty  communion 
was,  that  its  "merchandize  "  was  "in  slaves  and  souls 
of  men." 

Some  of  those  who  composed  the  associations,  who 
were  known  as  "  Come-outers,"  framed  a  course  of 
proceedure  for  themselves,  and  rather  excommunica- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  367 

ted  the  churches  than  came  out  from  them.  To  them 
the  church  was  a  principle,  an  idea,  not  a  corporation 
or  organization,  voting  members  in  or  out  by  majori 
ties,  and  in  many  of  the  sects  forbidding  women  to 
vote  at  all  on  any  question,  though  generally  a  major 
ity,  and  frequently  a  large  majority  of  the  member 
ship.  To  such  Come-outers  the  visible  church  of  the 
New  Testament  was  Christianity  made  visible  in  the 
life  and  character,  whether  of  one  or  more,  no  matter 
how  many,  only  let  purity  go  before  peace  and  liberty 
before  charity.  Conservatives  held  that  "  peaceful 
error  was  better  than  boisterous  truth."  But  the  other 
answered  "  Nay,  not  so.  Peace  if  possible,  but  truth 
and  right  at  whatever  cost." 

Our  church  in  Henniker  refused  any  forward  step. 
Several  withdrew  from  it  altogether  when  a  Kentucky 
slave-holder  was  invited  to  preach  in  the  pulpit  on 
Sunday,  and  administer  the  sacramental  supper.  Once 
when  visiting  in  town  a  meeting  was  appointed  for 
him  all  day  on  Saturday,  in  hope  that  two  successive 
days  of  his  preaching  might  produce  a  religious  awak 
ening  and  possibly  a  revival.  No  such  result,  however, 
followed.  But  an  anti-slavery  society  was  formed  in 
the  town,  that  did  good  and  effective  work,  some  join 
ing  from  all  the  churches. 

After  absenting  myself  from  the  communion  service 
a  number  of  years,  engaged  constantly  in  the  anti- 
slavery  apostleship,  I  sent  a  letter  to  the  church,  ex 
communicating  it  from  my  Christian  regard  and  fellow 
ship  until  it  should  repent  of  the  sins  and  shames  of 
slave-holding  and  bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repen 
tance.  No  notice  was  taken  of  me  nor  my  letter  till 
in  the  autumn  of  1846.  Then,  with  a  new  pastor, 
who  was  also  clerk  of  the  church,  an  official  order  was 
sent  me,  signed  and  countersigned  by  the  clerk,  sum- 


368  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

moning  me  to  appear,  on  a  given  day,  to  answer  to 
the  charge,  not  of  absence  from  worship  and  com 
munion  table,  but  of  denying  the  inspiration  of  the 
Bible. 

I  had  labored  with  the  church  publicly  and  privately 
for  years  on  the  guilt  and  danger  of  slave-holding,  or  of 
recognizing  as  Christians  or  Christian  ministers  the 
southern  slave-breeders  or  slave-holders,  before  send 
ing  my  letter  of  solemn  excommunication.  But  no 
similar  step,  nor  any  steps,  had  been  taken  towards 
me,  by  the  church  or  pastor,  till  the  formal  call, 
couched  in  quite  legal  phrase,  to  come  into  court  and 
plead  guilty  or  not  guilty,  to  a  charge  foreign  as  pos 
sible  from  the  question,  which  for  years  had  been  in 
agitation  between  us.  My  only  answer  was  the  fol 
lowing  letter,  forwarded  without  unnecessary  delay,  to 
the  minister,  who  was  also  clerk  of  the  church  : 

MILFORD,  N.  H.,  Oct.  15,  1846. 

FRIEND  EDEN  B.  FOSTER — Yours  of  September  26th 
was  duly  received.  In  reply  I  would  only  say  that  I 
am  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  any  Congregational 
church  in  Henniker.  Certainly  none  of  which  I  am  a 
member. 

Four  or  five  years  ago  there  was  an  organization  in 
that  town  known  by  that  name,  myself  belonging  to  it. 
But  that  body  I  excommunicated  for  its  grossly  immoral 
character. 

Since  then  the  individuals  comprising  it,  excepting  a 
very  few  who  have  repented,  have  been  to  me  as 
"  heathen  men  and  publicans,"  and  so  far  as  their 
conduct  and  their  influence  on  the  community  are  to 
be  seen,  my  estimate  of  them  must  be  pronounced 
eminently  just. 

I  am  still  laboring  for  their  reformation,  and  shall 
rejoice  to  see  signs  of  penitence  ;  and  to  forgive  with 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  369 

all  forbearance  and  charity  so  soon  as  I  see  hope  of 
genuine  repentance  and  fruits  meet  for  repentance.  I 
know  of  no  other  business  which  concerns  me  and  the 
persons  who  once  composed,  with  myself,  the  Con 
gregational  church  in  Henniker,  and  hasten  to  sub 
scribe  Sincerely  yours, 

PARKER  PILLSBURY. 

What  action  was  taken  on  this  letter,  if  any,  I  never 
knew.  If  excommunication  was  voted,  or  other  steps 
taken,  no  copy  or  report  was  ever  sent  me,  and  so 
there  the  matter  rested. 

But  a  controversy  with  the  ministry,  still  more 
grave,  yet  remained.  I  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
Boston  by  the  Suffolk  north  association  of  divines, 
after  a  pretty  severe  doctrinal  examination,  my  certifi 
cate  being  signed  by  Dr.  Curtis,  president,  and  Dr.  War 
ren  Fay,  secretary  of  the  association,  both  then  minis 
ters  in  Charlestown.  My  preaching  was  mainly  in 
New  Hampshire  and  within  the  bounds  of  the  Hop- 
kinton  association.  Only  for  remembering  them  that 
were  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them,  according  to  the 
dictates  of  my  own  conscience  and  interpretation  of 
the  divine  will,  I  gave  great  offense  to  members  of 
the  association.  But  instead  of  calling  on  me  in  any 
capacity,  official  or  private,  they  made  complaint  to 
the  Suffolk  association  that  granted  my  license.  This 
led  to  correspondence  between  that  body  and  myself, 
of  which  the  following  letters  are  all  that  concern 
either  history  or  the  present.  It  will  be  observed  by 
dates  of  letters,  that  all  this  was  some  years  before 
my  final  encounter  with  the  minister  and  people  at 
Henniker.  This  whole  affair  to-day  may  seem  trivial ; 
but  to  myself  and  wife,  and  other  near  and  dear 
friends,  there  was  mighty  meaning  in  every  step,  as 
one  after  another  had  to  be  taken. 


37°  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

The  summons  before  the  Suffolk  association  was  as 
below  : 

MALDEN  MASS.,  Feb.  3,  1841. 
Mr.  Parker  Pillsbury  : 

DEAR  BROTHER — At  a  meeting  of  the  Suffolk  north 
association,  held  in  Charlestown,  Feb,  2d,  1841,  the 
following  preamble  and  vote  were  unanimously 
adopted  : 

Whereas,  Certain  communications  have  been  re 
ceived  by  this  association,  and  are  now  on  file,  from 
the  Hopkinton  association,  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
Mr.  Parker  Pillsbury,  a  licentiate  of  this  body,  relative 
to  charges  preferred  by  the  Hopkinton  association 
against  Mr.  Pillsbury.  Therefore 

Voted,  That  the  case  be  assigned  for  consideration 
and  final  action,  to  a  meeting  of  this  association,  to 
be  held  in  Boston,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Blagdon,  on 
Tuesday,  the  twenty-third  day  of  the  present  month, 
at  nine  o'clock,  A.  M.,  when  the  parties  may  be  fully 
heard  ;  and  that  a  copy  of  this  vote  be  communicated 
by  the  scribe,  both  to  the  Hopkinton  association  and 
to  Mr.  Pillsbury. 

A  true  copy  of  record. 

[Attest]   A.  W.  McCLURE,  Scribe. 

To  this  arraignment,  I  immediately  responded,  to 
the  following  effect  : 

CONCORD,  N.  H.,  Feb.  20,  1841. 
To  the   Suffolk    North  Association    of   Congregational 

Ministers  in  Massachusetts  : 

BRETHREN — Your  communication  of  the  third  in 
stant  was  duly  received.  By  it  I  learn  that  you  have 
appointed  a  time  and  place  for  consideration  of 
charges  preferred  against  me  by  the  Hopkinton,  N. 
H.,  association  of  ministers,  and  for  "  final  action  "  on 
the  same. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  371 

On  the  course  of  the  Suffolk  association  in  this 
matter,  I  wish  to  be  indulged  in  a  few  remarks. 

In  the  first  place,  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  at  your 
disposition  to  hasten  the  final  action  of  a  case  so  im 
portant  to  me  and  the  parties  concerned.  In  an  rt  ex 
tra  official  "  note,  appended  to  your  communication, 
your  secretary  says,  "They  [the  association]  thought 
it  their  duty  to  give  you  the  opportunity  to  substan 
tiate  your  allegations  against  the  ministers  of  your 
region,  on  the  truth  of  which  allegations,  you  rely  for 
defense  against  the  charges  filed  against  you  by  the 
Hopkinton  association.,' 

Now,  you  must  have  been  aware  that  to  go  from 
town  to  town  over  any  considerable  part  of  the  state, 
summon  witnesses  and  assemble  them  at  Boston,  or  to 
take  affidavits  and  transmit  them  to  the  place  of  meet 
ing,  would  be  a  work  of  much  time  and  labor.  You 
must  also  have  been  aware  that  in  no  other  way  could 
I  attempt  a  defense.  Had  I  not,  then,  good  reason 
to  be  surprised  that  your  communication  informing 
me  that  "  final  action  "  was  to  be  had  on  my  cause  on 
the  twenty-third  of  February,  was  not  mailed  in  Mai 
den,  Mass.,  till  the  fourth  of  the  same  month  ?  Is 
such  haste  as  this  common  in  the  courts  of  law  ? 

But  let  me  say  farther,  no  charges  as  yet,  have  been 
specified  against  me.  You  say  in  your  former  com 
munication  that  the  complaint  of  the  Hopkinton  as 
sociation  is  founded  on  an  article  from  my  pen,  pub 
lished  in  the  Herald  of  Freedom,  '•  printed  at  Concord, 
N.  H.,  October  2d,  1840,  containing  charges  against 
the  clergy  that  are  highly  slanderous  and  unchristian." 
This  is  the  indictment,  and  the  whole  of  it. 

Now,  does  the  Suffolk  association  expect  me  to  as 
semble  witnesses  at  Boston,  to  prove  every  position  in 


372  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

that  letter  touching  the  clergy  ?  If  not,  why  have 
they  not  specified  the  charges  that  are  "  highly  slander 
ous  and  unchristian  ? " 

But  one  word  in  relation  to  the  general  manner  of 
procedure.  We  have  heard  much  of  late  in  this  state 
of  "  Congregational  usage  ;  "  and  of  "  ecclesiastical 
usage  ;  "  and  of  "ministerial  usage."  But  what  shall 
I  call  that  "  usage  "  which  (aside  from  considerations 
already  noticed),  permits  a  clerical  body,  to  which  I 
do  not,  never  did,  and  never  shall  belong,  and  to 
which  I  am  in  no  way,  whatever,  responsible,  beyond 
that  general  relation  which  all  Christians  bear  to  one 
another,  to  pursue  a  course  towards  one  whom  they  do 
not  regard  as  a  brother  in  the  ministry,  such  as  the 
Hopkinton  association  have  pursued  toward  me  ?  Had 
they  no  individual  duty  to  discharge  to  me  alone  ? 
Or,  had  the  association,  in  its  organized  capacity, 
none?  Could  they  never,  as  individuals,  nor  collec 
tively,  administer  one  word  of  instruction,  rebuke,  nor 
correction  ?  When  they  saw  me  wandering  out  of  the 
way,  was  there  no  one  venerable  from  age  or  experi 
ence,  to  warn  my  inexperienced  feet  ?  Or,  could  not 
the  body  together  give  me  one  word  of  caution  ? 
Why  should  they,  at  the  very  outset,  adopt  a  proced 
ure  which  they  knew  must  either  condemn  and  banish 
me  unheard,  or  subject  me  to  such  labor  and  expense 
for  trial  as  I  am  utterly  unable  to  meet  ? 

But  they  acted  as  they  saw  fit  ;  nor  am  I  surprised 
nor  grieved  :  1  had  no  right  nor  reason  to  expect 
otherwise  of  a  body  of  men,  who,  when  a  brother  came 
before  them  with  a  complaint  against  one  of  their  own 
number,  to  sustain  which  complaint,  some  six  or  eight 
of  the  best  members  of  his  own  church  stood  ready, 
could  deliberately  vote  in  a  moment  after  the  presenta 
tion,  to  return  it  to  its  author,  unread  and  unopened  \ 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  373 

I  have  the  best  of  evidence  to  show  that  the  clergy,  as 
a  body,  are  determined  to  sustain  each  other  in  the 
crusade  against  the  advocates  of  the  rights  of  our 
enslaved  fellow  men.  No  unimportant  part  of  that 
evidence  is  the  fact  that  the  Suffolk  North  Associa 
tion  have  signified  their  intention  to  take  "final  action* 
on  the  complaint  of  the  Hopkinton  Association  against 
me,  irrespective  of  the  manner  or  character  of  that 
complaint  in  three  weeks  after  the  determination  was 
formed,  and  information  of  it  transmitted  to  the  par 
ties  concerned.  I  need  not  repeat  here  what  has 
already  been  intimated,  that  you  and  the  Hopkinton 
Association  also  must  be  aware  of  the  utter  impossi 
bility  for  me  to  avail  myself  of  the  testimony  requisite 
to  a  fair  and  full  representation  of  the  case,  in  so  short 
a  time. 

But  I  ask  for  no  continuance  ;  I  am  not  anxious  to 
prove  to  you  that  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  of  this 
state  are,  and  have  been,  deadly  hostile  to  anything 
like  efficient  action  for  the  overthrow  of  slavery.  I 
deem  it  more  important  to  establish  that  fact  among 
those  who  support  them ;  I  mean  their  pastoral 
charges.  And  I  am  glad  to  know  that  the  happiest 
success  attends  my  labors,  and  those  of  my  faithful 
coadjutors  in  the  work. 

You  will  not  therefore  be  surprised  to  learn  that  I 
do  not  feel  called  upon  to  appear  before  you  on  the 
day  you  have  specified  for  a  hearing  of  my  case.  I 
might  well  say,in  the  words  of  Nehemiah  to  his  adver 
saries,  "  I  am  doing  a  great  work,  so  that  I  cannot 
come  down.  Why  should  the  work  cease  while  I 
leave  it  and  come  down  to  you  ? "  I  should  gain  little, 
even  could  I  do  all  that  could  be  wished.  The  same 


374  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

work  would  still  have  to  be  done  among  the  people 
which  is  required  now,  and  by  the  same  instrumental 
ity,  and  through  the  same  opposition. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  have  been  compelled  to 
excommunicate  from  my  fellowship,  most  of  the  min 
isters  of  our  land  for  the  sin  of  conniving  at  American 
slavery  ;  I  do  not  regard  them  as  Christians,  nor 
Christian  ministers.  I  regret  to  be  compelled  to  add 
that  even  the  Suffolk  North  Association  of  Ministers, 
are  no  exception  ;  nor  can  I  recognize  them  as  vested 
with  any  authority  to  decide  who  shall,  or  shall  not 
be  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel.  You  have  shown 
yourselves  in  various  ways,  to  be  the  friends  of  the 
southern  oppressor,  rather  than  of  the  opprest.  Not 
many  of  you  have  even  established  the  monthly  con 
cert  of  prayer  for  the  enslaved,  to  intercede  with  God 
on  their  behalf.  You  have  done  well  for  the  heathen 
abroad,  perhaps,  but  have  neglected  three  millions  of 
heathen  at  the  doors  of  your  own  sanctuaries.  Most 
of  you  oppose  directly,  the  agitation  of  the  subject  of 
slavery,  in  any  manner,  among  your  people.  You  are 
in  full  fellowship  and  communion  with  the  slave-hold 
ing  ministers  at  the  south,  and  their  more  guilty 
apologists  at  the  north.  For  ten  years  we  have  been 
laboring  to  awaken  an  interest  in  the  churches  in 
behalf  of  the  bleeding  slave.  Labor  enough  has  been 
done  in  New  England  to  hiive  made  every  church,  as 
a  church,  the  inflexible  foe  of  oppression,  as  it  exists 
at  the  south,  had  it  not  been  for  the  mighty  opposition 
that  has  been  constantly  thrown  in  the  way  by  the 
pulpit.  It  has  come  to  be  a  mere  truism  that  the 
firmest  pillars  of  the  bloody  Moloch  are  the  professed 
ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  in  no  part  of  these 
states  have  those  ministers  shown  themselves  more 
subservient  to  the  will  of  slave-breeding  and  slave- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  375 

holding  ministers  and  others,  than  in  Boston  and 
vicinity.  With  your  blood-stained  feet  on  the  necks 
of  three  millions  of  your  prostrate  brethren,  you  are 
deliberately  talking  of  "  censure  "  and  "  resumption'  of 
my  "license" .because  I  have  espoused  faithfully  their 
cause ! 

Recreant  should  I  be  to  the  interests  of  my  Redeem 
er's  kingdom,  to  recognize  such  men  as  ministers  of 
Christ.  I  know  full  well  how  the  warning  will  be 
received  ;  but  still  I  warn  you  to  repent.  God  has  a 
controversy  with  you  on  this  awful  sin  of  enslaving 
millions  of  immortal  beings  as  yourselves,  compelling 
them  into  absolute  heathenism,  concubinage,  adultery; 
robbing  them  of  everything,  wives,  children,  all  the 
endearing  relations  of  life,  manhood,  womanhood, 
with  all  else'  only  to  gratify  the  cupidity  of  an 
unrighteous  and  cruel  master-hood.  Your  Christianity 
has  less  of  humanity  in  it  than  has  the  religion  of  the 
Seminole  savage!  he  befriends  the  slave  and  wel 
comes  him  to  his  wigwam  :  you,  or  most  of  you,  and 
multitudes  under  your  pastoral  charge,  are  deaf  as 
adders  to  his  woes.  Search  the  heathen  world,  ancient 
and  modern  ;  you  shall  look  in  vain  for  a  system  of 
greater  abominations,  more  horrible  cruelties  than 
American  slavery  ;  and  yet  you  baptise  and  sanctify  it, 
and  admit  it  to  full  sacramental  communion  and 
fellowship. 

The  ancient  Romans  with  hearts  of  steel,  had  their 
god  of  war  ;  the  ferocious  Vandal  had  his  god  of 
vengeance  ;  but  none  of  their  high  places  ever  shewed 
an  altar  to  the  fell  demon  of  slavery.  Never  did  the 
Nine  Sisters  hold  fond  dalliance  with  a  fiend  so  foul  ; 
never  was  Apollo's  golden  lyre  tuned  to  his  praise ; 
never  did  the  wild  harp  of  northern  minstrelsy  in  all 
its  long  buried  melodies,  indite  one  hymn  to  the  blood- 


376  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

swollen  vampire.  Never  was  altar  reared  to  such 
divinity  till  the  Christian  slave  chain  was  forged,  and 
the  Christian  coffle  formed  ;  till  torturing  evangelical 
thumb-screws  were  invented,  and  human  flesh  had 
hissed  and  broiled  beneath  the  red-hot  branding  iron, 
and  the  one  eternal  God,  in  the  person  of  his  chil 
dren,  his  own  image  and  likeness,,  was  bought  and 
sold  in  the  shambles  with  the  beasts  that  perish  ! 

And  now  you,  grave  and  venerable  ministers, 
demand  of  me  to  fall  down  and  reverence  and  wor 
ship  your  blood-besmeared  idol,  on  pain  of  "censure," 
or  resumption  of  the  license  with  which  you  invested 
me  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  ;  and  as  logical  con 
sequence,  expulsion  from  the  church  on  earth,  and  the 
society  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven  !  Brethren,  you 
know  you  can  not  deny  what  I  say. 

For  three  hundred  years,  your  Christianity  has  been 
tearing  at  the  vitals  of  Africa,  like  vultures,  snatching 
away  from  her  bosom  her  poor  sons  and  daughters  in 
myriads,  to  supply  the  Christian  slave-markets  of  this 
and  other  nations.  Her  wailings  have  been  borne  on 
the  trade-winds,  on  all  the  winds,  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  And  yet  to  this  hour,  doctors  of  divinity  dare 
doubt,  dare  openly  deny  that  slavery  is  sin  !  and  even 
such  as  feign  to  believe  it  sin,  make  themselves,  by  a 
strange  silence  or  open  connivance,  more  guilty,  if 
possible,  or  certainly  more  dangerous,  than  those  who 
deny  or  doubt. 

I  repeat  my  denial  that  what  is  taught  and  pro 
fessed  by  the  great  body  of  clergy  in  this  nation  as 
Christianity  is  not  Christianity  at  all.  1  confine  myself 
inth  is  letter  wholly  to  slavery.  To  American  chattel 
slavery.  The%re  are  other  accounts  to  be  considered 
when  slavery  is  overthrown.  Let  your  intimated 
censure  "  and  resumption  of  "  license  "  be  carried 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  377 

into  full  execution.  I  shall  still  preach  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  and  by  his  grace  wash  my  hands  from  all  par 
ticipation  in  your  guilt  on  the  awful  crimes  and  cruel 
ties  of  slavery,  and  in  the  last  day  be  a  swift  witness 
against  you,  unless  you  repent. 

Brethren,  regard  this  letter  as  my  solemn  excommuni 
cation  of  you,  and  my  work  with  you  is  done. 

I  go  now  to  the  lost  sheep  on  the  mountains  to  un 
fold  to  them  the  treasures  of  the  gospel.  And  I  shall 
tell  them,  as  I  have  done  before,  except  your  righ 
teousness  exceed  the  righteousness  of  most  of  the  pro 
fessed  ministers  of  Christ  around  you,  you  can  in  no 
case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  when 
they,  and  you,  and  I,  stand  at  the  tribunal  of  God 
with  assembled  worlds,  the  down-trodden  and  sorrow- 
stricken  slave  in  the  vast  congregation,  it  shall  be 
known  who  has  served  God  and  who  has  not.  And 
justice  shall  be  meted  out  to  us  all. 

Yours,  waiting  that  great  event, 

PARKER  PILLSBURY. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Suffolk  North  As 
sociation  my  "  license  "  was  resumed,  -as  had  been 
before  intimated  and  threatened.  But  my  higher, 
more  divine  commission  became  to  me  from  that  time 
more  and  more  sacred  and  important.  Under  it,  I 
have  spoken  the  words  of  truth,  righteousness  and 
freedom  for  more  than  forty  years,  to  multitudes  of 
men,  women  and  children  in  both  the  hemispheres,  and 
as  I  humbly  hope  and  trust,  not  all  in  vain. 

The  first  open,  direct  arraignment  of  the  American 
church  and  clergy  as  the  guilty  accomplices,  north  and 
south,  in  all  the  crimes  and  cruelties,  the  sins  and 
shames  of  slavery,  was  a  little  pamphlet,  entitled, 
"  The  American  Churches  the  Bulwarks  of  American 
Slavery."  It  was  written  by  an  American,  though  first 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES 

published  in  England  in  1840.  The  last  of  similar 
import  and  purpose,  was  a  larger  work,  published  in 
1847,  entitled,  "The  Church  as  it  is;  The  Forlorn 
Hope  of  Slavery." 

The  peculiarity  of  both  these  publications  was,  that 
the  persons  and  parties  whose  character  and  conduct 
were  to  be  considered,  furnished  all  the  testimony 
themselves,  and  the  evidence  was  ail  direct,  with  no 
cross  question  nor  quibble  of  any  description,  from 
the  other  side,  so  whatever  conclusion  might  be 
reached,  it  would  be  wholly  through  their  own  words 
and  works,  as  by  themselves  published  to  the  world. 

Since  slavery  was  abolished,  the  clergy,  as  was  al 
ways  predicted  they  would,  have  claimed  it  as  the 
result  of  their  prayers,  preaching  and  votes.  But  it 
was  never  expected  that  they  or  their  children  would 
boldly  declare  through  pulpit  and  press,  as  well  as  by 
lips  and  lungs,  that  the  abolitionists,  even  Garrison, 
did  more  harm  than  good;  that  "the  final  extinction 
of  slavery  was  accomplished  in  pursuance  of  princi 
ples  which  Garrison  abhorred,  and  by  measures  which 
he  denounced;"  that  "he  had  but  a  heterogeneous 
following,  charged  with  all  the  fanaticism  of  the 
times  ;  and  confined  mostly  to  eastern  Massachusetts 
and  northern  New  England  ;  "  a  "  motley  party  ;  was 
only  captain  of  a  corporal's  guard  ;  "  "  his  main  prin 
ciples  were,  down  with  the  constitution,  dissolve  the 
union,  denounce  the  churches  and  ministers,  renounce 
the  orthodox  belief  in  the  Bible  ;  a  man  of  headlong 
force,  erratic,  short-sighted  and  narrow,  thought  not 
of  cleansing,  but  of  crushing  the  temple  of  liberty, 
which  would  have  made  slavery  perpetual  and  extin 
guished  forever  all  hope  of  an  American  nation  !  " 

A  semi-centennial  discourse,  delivered  in  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  in  April,  1881,  contains  most  of  these  quota- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  379 

tions ;  and  Rev.  A.  T.  Rankin,  in  some  published 
essays,  the  present  year,  supplies  part  of  the  remain 
der.  But  it  remained  for  Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon, 
son  of  the  late  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  of  Connecticut, 
to  print  such  a  life-size  portrait  of  Garrison  as  will  be 
here  subjoined.  It  is  in  a  biographical  sketch  of  his 
father,  in  a  popular  magazine.  Dr.  Bacon's  anti-sla 
very  was  worthy  such  a  son,  and  to  be  by  him  cele 
brated  in  the  manner  it  is  in  the  notice  furnished  the 
Century.  It  received  many  well-deserved  scathings 
when  it  appeared,  and  as  anti-slavery  had  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  father,  so  neither  has  the  memory  or 
good  name  of  Garrison  anything  to  dread  from  the 
contemptuous  caricatures  of  the  son.  Both  may  be 
safely  trusted  to  history  and  to  posterity.  But  here  is 
the  Woolsey  Bacon  portrait : 

In  almost  any  assembly  of  crotchety  people — long 
haired  men  and  short-haired  women — over  a  scheme 
for  the  reconstruction  of  the  solar  system,  you  will 
hear  the  appeal  to  "  Remember  Garrison,  how  he  be 
gan  with  nothing  and  a  printing-press  against  the 
whole  nation  and  the  whole  church,  and  how  at  last 
he  succeeded  in  bringing  everybody  over  to  his  side." 
It  is  really  a  matter  of  interest  to  public  morals  that 
the  ingenuous  youth  of  America  should  know  the  truth 
of  this  matter  —  that  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  society 
never  succeeded  in  anything ;  that  his  one  distinctive 
dogma,  that  slave-holding  is  always  and  everywhere  a 
sin,  was  never  accepted  to  any  considerable  extent 
outside  of  the  little  ring  of  his  personal  adherents  ; 
that  his  vocabulary,  which  had  no  word  but  man- 
stealer  and  pirate  for  the  legal  guardian  of  a  decrepit 


380  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

negro,  or  for  one  holding  a  family  of  slaves  in  transit 
for  a  free  state,  with  intent  to  emancipate  them,  never 
became  part  of  the  American  dictionary  ;  that  the 
sophistry  with  which  he  spent  a  lifetime  in  trying  to 
confuse  plain  distinctions  had  little  effect  except  to 
give  acrimony  and  plausibility  to  the  defense  of  sla 
very  ;  and  that  the  final  extinction  of  slavery  was  ac 
complished  in  pursuance  of  principles  which  he  ab 
horred,  by  measures  which  he  denounced,  and  under 
the  leadership  of  men  like  Leonard  Bacon,  in  litera 
ture  and  the  church,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  in  politics, 
who  had  been  the  objects  of  his  incessant  and  calum 
nious  vituperation. 

And  yet  this  bold  calumniator  has  the  grace  to  ad 
mit  that  "  the  brunt  of  my  [his]  father's  arguments 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  slavery  controversy,  was 
directed  more  against  the  so-called  abolitionists  than 
against  the  advocates  of  slavery."  Till  the  firing  on 
Fort  Sumter  the  abolitionists  never  knew  that  "  the 
brunt  of  Dr.  Bacon's  arguments  was  ever  changed  in 
its  direction,"  to  any  important  purpose,  to  either  side. 
Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon  graciously  thinks,  however, 
that  Garrison,  now  that  slavery  is  abolished,  may  "be 
forgiven  the  great  harm  he  did  for  the  sake  of  the 
little  good." 

But  all  this  aside  from  the  main  question  in  hand.  The 
clergy  to-day  would  have  the  world  believe  they  were 
always  opposed  to  slavery,  and  sought  its  overthrow. 
They  were  opposed  to  slavery  just  as  was  the  govern 
ment.  No  more  ;  no  less.  And  if  the  church  and 
government  were  against  slavery,  why  did  they  not 
put  it  out  of  existence  ?  How  could  it  have  stood 
against  them  ?  If  they  were  opposed  to  slavery  why 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  381 

were  Louisiana  and  Florida  bought  for  its  extension  ? 
Why  was  Mexico  robbed  of  Texas  after  a  four  years' 
bloody  and  cruel,  and  fearfully  unjust  war  on  our  part, 
only  to  reinstate  slavery  where  Roman  Catholicism 
a  few  years  before  had  abolished  it,  as  it  hoped,  for 
ever? 

Whatever  of  slave-breeding,  or  slave-holding,  or 
slave-trading  abroad,  or  slave-hunting  at  home  the 
government  authorized  and  supported,  the  church- 
sanctioned  and  sanctified.  So  also  of  slavery  exten 
sion.  The  clergy  actually  clamored  for  chaplaincies 
in  the  atrocious  Mexican  war,  knowing  well  its  origin 
and  objects.  The  religious  press,  north  and  south, 
shouted  for  the  war,  irrespective  of  denominational 
differences.  The  Presbyterian  Herald  asked  its  read 
ers,"  Do  you  pray  for  the  Mexicans?"  and  answered  : 

There  are  good  reasons  why  you  should.  They 
have  souls  like  other  men.  Is  not  this  overlooked  ? 
They  are  not  wild  beasts,  though  like  them.  Why 
pray  for  a  Hindoo  or  a  Hottentot  ?  Because  he 
has  a  soul  of  infinite  value,  but  exposed  to  eternal 
death.  So  has  every  Mexican.  Because  they  are  all 
Papists.  And  will  you  pray  for  the  conversion  of 
Romanism  around  you,  and  not  for  the  conversion  of 
that  one  thousand  miles  off  ? 

The  pope  decreed  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Mex 
ico  in  1829,  "  for  the  glory  of  God  and  to  distinguish 
mankind  from  the  brute  creation."  Good  reason  why 
slave-holding  Presbyterians  should  "  pray  for  the  con 
version  of  Mexicans  as  well  as  for  Hindoos  and  Hot 
tentots."  But  the  Presbyterian  Herald  had  another 
reason  for  praying  for  the  Mexicans,  verily  this  : 

They  are  our  enemies.  This  is  one  of  the  strongest 
reasons.  Does  not  the  Savior  so  teach  ?  Matthew 
v  ;  44.  This  does  not  refer  to  private  enemies  only 
— it  extends  to  public  foes  also.  It  may  be  your  duty 
to  fight  them,  to  preserve  the  life  and  the  liberty  of 


382  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

our  countrymen — strictly  in  the  defensive.  But  does 
that  duty  to  our  country  exempt  us  from  the  other 
duty  to  them  ?  Fighting  and  praying  can  go  together. 
Jesus  was  a  lion,  yet  a  lamb — so  his  disciples. 

The  Protestant  Telegraph  viewed  the  war  and  its 
results,  thus  hopefully  : 

I  have  no  fellowship  with  war,  and  deeply  regret 
our  present  relations  with  our  sister  republic,  Mexico  ; 
yet  I  cannot  but  hope  for  some  good  from  the  conflict, 
and  that  good  is,  the  entrance  of  the  Protestant  religion 
into  the  Mexican  states.  The  Roman  Catholic  religion 
is  now  the  religion  of  that  nation  ;  none  other  is  tol 
erated  ;  but  it  is  utterly  impossible  that  republican 
institutions  can  exist  and  flourish  in  connection  with 
Romanism.  The  immense  wealth  of  the  churches  in 
Mexico,  now  hoarded  up  in  idolatrous  images  of  silver 
and  gold,  (a  petticoat  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  estimated 
at  half  a  million,)  may  be  distributed  among  the 
people  as  a  consequence  of  this  conflict,  or  be  laid  out 
in  the  establishment  of  schools,  in  internal  improve 
ments,  in  efforts  of  various  kinds,  to  exalt  the  people. 
"Great  is  the  Diana  of  the  Ephesians,"  is  now  the  cry, 
but  it  may  soon  give  place  to  "Great  is  the  Lord  our 
God." 

But  what  shall  be  said  of  this  from  so  eminent  a 
Divine,  as  Rev.  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.,  in  a  sermon 
preached,  and  then  published  in  the  Christian 
Observer? 

I  was  not  an  advocate  for  the  present  administration. 
I  cast  my  vote  for  the  opposing  candidates,  and  my 
judgment  is,  that  if  they  had  been  elected,  the  Mexi 
can  war  would  have  been  avoided,  and  the  honor  ot 
the  country  as  well  preserved  as  at  present.  But  our 
present  chief  magistrate  was  duly  elected.  He  is  not 
the  president  of  the  democratic  party  ;  he  is  the  presi 
dent  of  the  nation  ;  he  is  my  president  and  your 
president,  and  we  are  bound  to  treat  him  with  the 
same  deferential  respect  as  if  he  had  been  the  very 
man  of  our  choice.  Moreover,  are  we  absolutely  cer 
tain  that  he  is  not  really  laying  a  foundation  for  a 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  383 

claim  on  our  gratitude  in  this  very  matter  of  the 
Mexican  war  ?  For  one,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I 
am  not  so  well  informed  in  respect  to  our  relations 
with  Mexico,  as  to  be  sure  that  our  executive  could 
have  wisely  avoided  this  collision.  Perhaps  I  am  as 
well  acquainted  with  the  subject  as  the  majority  of  my 
hearers,  yet  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  bare  three  months 
devoted  to  an  investigation  of  our  past  and  present 
relations  with  Mexico,  would  secure  to  me  tenfold  the 
amount  of  intelligence  which  I  at  present  possess  in 
relation  to  the  subject ;  and  if  it  were  left  for  me  to 
decide,  whether  that  course  of  policy  should  be  pur 
sued  which  has  involved  us  in  war,  I  should  not,  with 
my  present  limited  knowledge,  dare  to  assume  the 
responsibility  of  deciding  against  it ! 

Or  this  in  the  New  England  Puritan,  from  its 
editor,  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke,  D.  D. 

The  fact  that  this  nation  is  earnestly  engaged  in 
war  with  a  neighboring  nation,  seems  to  be  little  real 
ized  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  especially  by 
Christian  people,  who  ought  to  take  a  deep  interest  in 
the  subject.  But  what  shall  Christians  do  in  the  case? 
The  war  will  not  be  brought  to  a  close  the  sooner  by 
bringing  Christian  influence  into  antagonism  with  any 
legal  measures  for  prosecuting  the  war.  We  are  in 
the  war  by  the  acts  of  our  government,  and  shall  get  out 
of  it,  if  we  ever  do,  by  the  acts  of  the  government  and 
none  the  sooner  for  any  attempts  to  embarrass  that 
action.  Our  rulers  have  taken  the  responsibility  of  this 
plunge, and  we,  in  the  exercise  of  a  religious  influence, 
are  not  called  upon  either  to  justify  or  resist  their  action. 
As  citizens  exercising  the  political  franchise,  at  the 
proper  time,  we  with  the  rest,  must  make  our  opinions 
felt,  touching  such  important  measures.  But  now  the 
simple  question  is,  what  can  we  do  as  Christians,  to 
secure  the  favor  of  Providence  and  avert  the  storm  ? 

The  Rev.  Evan  Stevenson,  editor  of  a  monthly 
magazine  in  Georgetown,  Kentucky,  hungered  after 
the  righteousness  of  such  a  war  as  keenly  as  this 
discloses  : 


384  ACTS    OF    ANTI-.SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

While  the  war  continues,  we  cannot  and  will  not  dis 
cuss  the  question  of  slavery,  as  we  honestly  feel  more 
like  discussing  roast  beef  and  yams,  or,  if  our  service 
is  required,  national  rights,  with  our  sword  on  the  Rio 
Grande.  We  entreat  our  correspondents  that  they 
forward  to  us  for  publication  no  religious  controversies 
pending  this  conflict  with  Mexico.  Let  us  drop  our 
denominational  prejudices,  "Fight  the  good  fight  of 
faith,  and  lay  hold  upon  eternal  life  " 

Only  two  more  of  these  excerpts,  and  one  of  them 
very  brief.  The  Christian  Observer,  a  new-school 
Presbyterian  organ,  of  first-class,  spoke  in  this  tone, 
and  at  such  length,  by  a  correspondent  : 

MEXICO  is  OPEN  ! — Mexico  is  open  to  Christian,  as 
well  as  commercial  enterprise.  Our  countrymen 
are  protected  in  the  prosecution  of  their  lawful  busi 
ness,  and  so  would  our  citizens  be  in  the  sale  or  gra 
tuitous  circulation  of  Spanish  Bibles,  tracts  and  bound 
volumes.  These  books  are  on  the  shelves  of  our  de 
positories.  Why  should  they  remain  there,  when  now 
they  may  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  population  at 
Matamoras,  Monterey,  Tampico,  Vera  Cruz,  Jalapa, 
Perote,  Puebla,  etc.,  etc.?  Will  those  whose  obliga 
tions  bind  them  to  this  circulation,  answer  this  ques 
tion  ?  The  sword  has  opened  the  way.  Our  officers 
and  soldiers  themselves  need  all  the  kindly  influences 
we  can  exert  on  them.  They  will  gratefully  receive 
these  publications,  and  bless  their  benefactors.  Shall 
we  withhold  them  from  the  men  who  fight  the  battles 
of  the  country  ?  Many  of  the  officers  and  soldiers,  par 
ticularly  among  the  volunteers,  are  church  members,  and 
will  rejoice  in  such  an  enterprise.  Colporteurs  can  be 
found  on  the  ground.  Discharged  volunteers  will  re 
main,  and  instead  of  shooting  balls,  will  love  to  do 
good,  and  communicate  to  the  millions  perishing 
around  them,  the  word  of  life.  What  is  my  duty  as 
an  AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN  ?  Let  the  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  Christian  freemen  in  our  land  answer  that 
question.  If  Captain  Bragg  gave  "a  little  more 
grape"  and  turned  the  victory,  why  may  not  the  sons  of 
peace  and  righteousness  follow  up  that  victory,  with  all 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  385 

those  missiles  and  weapons  which  are  mighty  through 
God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds  ?  It  must 
be  done.  //  is  the  great  movement  of  the  present  cen 
tury.  Who  will  lead  the  advance  ?  j.  c.  s. 

And  this  one  more,  from  the  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
Union  : 

"At  a  Missionary  meeting,  held  in  the  Methodist 
church,  on  Monday  night,  funds  were  raised  for  mak 
ing  General  Taylor,  Colonel  Campbell,  Colonel  An 
derson,  Captain  Cheatham,  and  Captain  Foster,  life- 
members  of  the  Conference  Missionary  society.  These 
compliments  will  be  duly  appreciated  by  the  brave 
officers,  who  are  winning  laurels  on  the  field  of  battle." 

So  did  the  government  and  the  governing  part  and 
power  of  the  church,  cooperate  in  fighting  and  robbing 
to  extend,  as  well  as  support  slavery. 


CHAPTER     XV. 

ACTS  OF  PRO-SLAVERY  APOSTLES— GENERAL  ASSEMBLY 
OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH— AMERICAN  BOARD 
OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  — THE 
BAPTIST  CHURCH-METHODIST-EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  — 
PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  -  CAMPBELLITES  — 
AMERICAN  BIBLE  AND  TRACT  SOCIETIES— FUGITIVE 
SLAVE  LAW. 

A  long  chapter  this  may  be,  though  it  is  last  but 
one,  and  that  one,  readers  may  be  glad  to  know,  will 
not  be  long.  The  charges  against  the  church  and 
clergy  may  be  sweeping  and  severe.  All  that  is  now 
proposed  is  to  submit  their  own  recorded,  printed, 
published  testimony  in  support  of  them.  In  scripture 
phrase,  "  By  their  own  words  shall  they  be  justified, 
or  condemned." 

For  convenience,  the  great  representative  ecclesias 
tical  bodies  will  be  considered  separately,  beginning 
with  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 
Notwithstanding  its  powerful  testimony  against  sla 
very,  so  late  as  1818,  as  has  been  shown,  it  grew  to  be 
one  of  the  boldest  blasphemers  against  the  holy  spirit 
of  freedom  the  world  has  produced.  And  the  New- 
school  assembly,  after  the  memorable  separation  into 
old  and  new  schools,  became  quite  as  unscrupulous  as 
the  other.  Though  slavery  had  little  or  nothing  to  do 
in  dividing  the  body,  the  new  school  was  much  the 
strongest  in  the  northern  states. 

In  the  new-school  general  assembly,  in  1840,  a  mo 
tion  was  made,  by  a  member,  on  the  subject  of  sla 
very,  when  Rev.  Dr.  Cox,  of  Brooklyn,  immediately 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  387 

moved  its  indefinite  postponement.  On  the  motion 
being  carried,  he  exultingly  exclaimed  :  "Our  Vesu 
vius  is  capped  safely  for  three  years,"  that  being  the 
time  for  the  next  meeting.  And  Judge  Birney  assures 
us  that  Dr.  Cox  was  at  the  first  an  abolitionist. 

The  clergy  of  the  old-school  were  even  more  de 
monstrative  in  opposition  to  anything  like  hostility  to 
the  "  peculiar  institution."  When  the  Richmond  min 
isters  held  a  meeting,  expressly  to  wash  their  hands 
clean  before  all  the  world,  of  any  anti-slavery  stain, 
Dr.  William  L.  Plummer  was  absent ;  but  on  his  re 
turn,  he  made  haste  to  assure  his  acceptance  and  ap 
proval  of  the  action  taken,  by  a  letter  to  the  committee 
of  correspondence,  from  which  these  are  extracts  : 

"  I  have  carefully  watched  this  matter  from  its  ear 
liest  existence,  and  everything  I  have  seen  or  heard  of 
its  character,  both  from  its  patrons  and  its  enemies, 
has  confirmed  me  beyond  repentance,  in  the  belief, 
that,  let  the  character  of  abolitionists  be  what  it 
may  in  the  sight  of  the  judge  of  all  the  earth,  this  is 
the  most  meddlesome,  impudent,  reckless,  fierce,  and 
wicked  excitement  I  ever  saw. 

"  If  abolitionists  will  set  the  country  in  a  blaze,  it 
is  but  fair  that  they  should  receive  the  first  warming 
at  the  fire. 

"Abolitionists  are  like  infidels,  wholly  unaddicted 
to  martyrdom  for  opinion's  sake.  Let  them  under 
stand  that  they  will  be  caught  [lynched]  if  they  come 
among  us,  and  they  will  take  good  heed  to  keep  out 
of  our  way.  There  is  not  one  man  among  them  who 
has  any  more  idea  of  shedding  his  blood  in  this  cause 
than  he  has  of  making  war  on  the  grand  Turk." 

To  these  instances  of  clerical  devotion  to  the  wor 
ship  of  the  bloody  idol,  Judge  Birney  adds  this  ;  a 
letter  from  a  reverend  divine,  announcing  his  inten- 


388  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES 

tion  to  appear  at  the  next  session  of  the  Presbytery, 
with  important  business,  for  which  he  would  have 
everybody  previously  prepare.  He  opens  thus  ; 
To  the  Sessions  of  the  Presbyterian  Congregations 
wit/iin  the  bounds  of  the  West  Hanover  Presbytery  : 
At  the  appointed  stated  meeting  of  our  Presbytery, 
I' design  to  offer  a  preamble  and  resolutions  on  the 
subject  of  treasonable  and  abominably  wicked  in 
terference  of  the  northern  and  eastern  fanatics,  with 
our  political  and  civil  rights,  our  property  and  our  do 
mestic  concerns.  You  are  aware  that  our  clergy, 
whether  with  or  without  reason,  are  more  suspected  by 
the  public  than  the  clergy  of  other  denominations. 
Now,  dear  Christian  brethren,  I  humbly  express  it  as 
my  earnest  wish,  that  you  quit  yourselves  like  men.  If 
there  be  any  stray  goat  of  a  minister  among  you, 
tainted  with  the  blood-hound  principles  of  abolition 
ism,  let  him  be  ferreted  out,  silenced,  excommunicated, 
and  left  to  the  public  to  dispose  of  him  in  in  other  respects. 
Your  affectionate  brother  in  the  Lord, 

ROBERT  N.  ANDERSON. 

Mr.  Birney  farther  gives  us  this  individual  expres 
sion  of  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  of  New  York.  He  says  : 
"At  the  anniversary  of  the  American  colonization  so 
ciety,  held  in  Washington,  in  1839,  Dr.  Spring  was  on 
the  platform,  as  one  of  the  speakers.  At  his  side  was 
Mr.  Henry  A.  Wise,  a  Virginia  member  of  congress,  a 
slave-holder  and  professional  duelist.  In  his  speech, 
he  had  declared  :  'The  best  way  to  meet  the  aboli 
tionists  is  with  cold  steel  and  Dupont's  best  ! '  "  [best 
gun-powder.]  And  Mr.  Birney  adds  :  "  We  were 
told  that  Dr.  Spring  spoke  in  sympathy  with  the  south- 
•ern  sentiment,  as  evinced  in  the  speech  of  Mr.  Wise." 
Subsequently,  Mr.  Birney  says  :  "  The  doctor  preached 
and  published  a  series  of  sermons  on  slavery  in  its 
scriptural  relations,  which  were  regarded  by  the  pro- 
slavery  party  as  highly  serviceable  to  their  cause." 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  389 

If  it  shall  .be  objected  that  these  are  only  individual 
utterances,  it  may  be  said  for  that  very  reason  they 
are  given.  But  they  are  also  the  expression  of  the 
most  eminent  />/-<?-eminent  men  in  the  denomination. 
Men  of  whom  one  is  supposed  to  chase  a  thousand, 
and  two  to  put  ten  thousand  abolitionists  to  flight, 
even  though  ''with  cold  steel  and  Dupont's  best." 

What  follows  shall  be  the  expression  of  the  very 
best  of  the  general  assembly,  the  new-school,  and  so 
late  as  the  year  1846,  when  the  American  anti-slavery 
society  had  reached  its  sixteenth  year,  and  when  mul 
titudes  of  church  members  had  left  the  communion, 
when  new  and  free  churches  had  been  organized  and 
ministers  settled  over  them,  in  the  good  name  of  anti- 
slavery. 

At  the  session  of  1846,  the  voice  of  protest  against 
slavery  was  so  much  louder  and  stronger  than  ever 
before,  that  a  report  had  to  be  made  as  nearly  as  pos 
sible  in  tune  and  tone  with  the  protests.  It  was  pre 
sented  by  Rev.  Dr.  Duffield,  and  read  as  follows  : 

The  system  of  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  these  United 
States,  viewed  either  in  the  laws  of  the  several  states 
which  sanction  it,  or  in  its  actual  operation  and  re 
sult  in  society,  is  intrinsically  unrighteous  and  oppres 
sive,  and  is  opposed  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  law  of 
God,  to  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  the  gospel,  and  to 
the  best  interests  of  humanity. 

The  testimony  of  the  general  assembly,  from  the 
A.  D.  1787,  to  A.  D.  1818,  inclusive,  has  condemned 
it,  and  it  remains  still  the  recorded  testimony  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  of  these  United  States  against  it, 
from  which  we  do  not  recede. 

We  cannot,  therefore,  withhold  the  expression  of 
deep  regret  that  slavery  should  be  continued  and  coun 
tenanced  by  any  of  the  members  of  our  churches  ; 
and  we  do  earnestly  exhort  both  them  and  the 
churches,  among  whom  its  exists,  to  use  all  means  in 
their  power  to  put  it  away  from  them.  Its  perpetua- 


39°  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

tion  among  them  cannot  fail  to  be  regarded  by  multi 
tudes  influenced  by  their  example,  as  sanctioning  the 
system  portrayed  in  it,  and  maintained  by  the  statutes 
of  the  several  slaveholding  states,  wherein  they  dwell. 

But  while  we  believe  that  many  evils  incident  to  the 
system,  render  it  important  and  obligatory  to  bear  tes 
timony  against  it,  yet  would  we  not  undertake  to  de 
termine  the  degree  of  moral  turpitude  on  the  part  of 
individuals  involved  by  it.  This  will  doubtless  be 
found  to  vary  in  the  sight  of  God,  according  to  the 
degree  of  light  and  other  circumstances  pertaining  to 
each.  In  view  of  all  the  embarrassments  and  obsta 
cles  in  the  way  of  emancipation  interposed  by  the 
statutes  of  the  slaveholding  states,  and  by  the  social 
influence  affecting  the  views  and  conduct  of  those  in 
volved  in  it,  we  cannot  pronounce  a  judgment  of  general 
and  promiscuous  condemnation,  implying  that  desti 
tution  of  Christian  principle  and  feeling  which  should 
exclude  from  the  table  of  the  Lord  all  who  should 
stand  in  the  legal  relation  of  masters  to  slaves,  or  jus 
tify  us  in  withholding  our  ecclesiastical  and  Christian 
fellowship  from  them.  We  rather  sympathize  with, 
and  would  seek  to  succor  them  in  their  embarrass 
ments,  believing  that  separation  and  secession  among 
the  churches  and  their  members,  are  not  the  methods 
God  approves  and  sanctions  for  the  reformation  of 
his  church. 

While,  therefore,  we  feel  bound  to  bear  our  testi 
mony  against  slavery,  and  to  exhort  our  beloved 
brethren  to  remove  it  from  them  as  speedily  as  possi 
ble,  by  all  appropriate  and  available  means,  we  do  at 
the  same  time  condemn  all  divisive  and  schismatical 
measures,  tending  to  destroy  the  unity  and  disturb  the 
peace  of  our  church,  and  deprecate  the  spirit  of  de 
nunciation  and  inflicting  severities,  which  would  cast 
from  the  fold  those  whom  we  are  rather  bound,  by  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  the  obligations  of  our  coven 
ant,  to  instruct,  to  counsel,  to  exhort,  and  thus  to  lead 
in  the  ways  of  God  ;  and  towards  whom,  even  though 
they  may  err,  to  exercise  forbearance  and  brotherly 
love. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  39! 

As  a  court  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  possess  no 
legislative  authority  ;  and  as  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  church,  we  possess  no  judiciary  au 
thority.  We  have  no  right  to  institute  and  prescribe 
a  test  of  Christian  character  and  church  membership, 
not  recognized  and  sanctioned  in  the  sacred  scrip 
tures,  and  in  our  standards,  by  which  we  have  agreed 
to  waik.  We  must  leave,  therefore,  this  matter  with 
the  sessions,  presbyteries  and  synods — the  judicator- 
ies  to  whom  pertains  the  right  of  judgment  to  act  in 
the  administration  of  discipline,  as  they  may  judge  it 
to  be  their  duty,  constitutionally,  subject  to  the  gen 
eral  assembly,  only  in  the  way  of  general  review  and 
control. 

This  was  the  exact  position  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  New  School  in  1846.  Briefly  analyzed,  it  contains 
a  fearful  condemnation  of  slave-holding ;  then  a 
re-statement  of  the  old  positions  of  the  body,  back  in 
the  former  century  and  onward  to  1818,  and  a  hypo 
critical  profession  of  adherence  to  them  still  ;  *  * 
hypocritical,  because  regret  is  expressed  in  another 
place  that,  "  slavery  is  still  countenanced  and  contin 
ued  by  members  of  our  churches  ; "  which,  if  true, 
and  slavery  be  such  sin  and  shame,  crime  and  cruelty, 
why  were  not  the  offenders  dealt  with  long  ago  as 
other  sinners,  and  so  the  church  cleansed  from  such  a 
curse?  But  the  next  propositition  is  a  most  unblush 
ing  attempt,  weak  too,  as  well  as  wicked,  to  excuse 
and  extenuate  the  guilt  of  slave-holding,  notwith 
standing  the  previous  stunning  condemnation  of  it ; 
while  the  last  declaration  is  that  "  as  a  court  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  possess  no  legislative  authority, 
and  as  the  general  assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  we  possess  no  judicial  authority  !  "  And  so 
the  abomination  went  on  from  generation  to  genera 
tion  ;  growing  with  the  nation's  growth,  increasing 
with  the  increase  of  the  church  ! 


392  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Parodied  in  but  a  single  word,  this  is  the  way  these 
grave  propositions  would,  a  part  of  them,  read  : 

First,  the  system  of  legalized  adultery,  as  it  exists 
in  these  United  States  is  intrinsically  unrighteous, 
and  opposed  to  the  law  of  God  and  the  spirit  and 
precepts  of  the  gospel. 

We  cannot,  therefore,  withhold  the  expression  of 
deep  regret,  that  adultery  should  be  countenanced  and 
continued  by  any  of  the  members  of  our  churches.. 
And  we  do  earnestly  exhort  both  them  and  the 
churches  among  whom  it  exists,  to  use  all  means  in 
their  power  to  put  it  away. 

But  while  we  believe  that  many  evils  incident  to 
adultery,  render  it  important  and  obligatory  to  bear 
testimony  against  it,  yet  we  would  not  undertake  to 
determine  the  degree  of  moral  turpitude,  on  the  part 
of  individual  adulterers.  This  will  doubtless  be  found 
to  vary  in  the  sight  of  God,  according  to  the  degree 
of  light  and  other  circumstances  pertaining  to  each 
individual. 

While,  therefore,  we  feel  bound  to  bear  our  testi 
mony  against  adultery,  and  to  exhort  our  beloved 
erring  brethren  to  remove  itlfrom  them,  as  speedily  as 
possible,  by  all  available  and  appropriate  means,  we 
do  at  the  same  time  condemn  all^divisive  and  schis- 
matical  measures,  tending  to  destroy  the  unity  and 
disturb  the  peace  of  our  church,  and  deprecate  the 
spirit  of  denunciation,  and  inflicting  severities  which 
would  cast  from  the  fold  those  adulterers  whom  we 
are  rather  bound  by  the  spirit'of  the  gospel,  and  the 
obligations  of  our  covenant,  to  instruct,  to  counsel,  to 
exhort,  and  thus  to  lead  in  the^way  of  God;  and 
towards  whom,  even  though  they  may  err,  to  exercise 
forbearance  and  brotherly  love. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  393 

Does  not  this  change  of  a  word  throw  light  and 
lightning  on  the  problem  ?  Or  suppose  the  words 
sheep-stealing  and  sheep-stealers  had  been  substituted, 
taking  the  hint  from  him  who  exclaimed  once,  "  How 
much  better  is  a  man  than  a  sheep  !  " 

And  yet  was  not  slavery  both  adultery  and  theft  in 
all  their  most  odious  forms  ?  That  very  church  had 
quoted  the  eminent  scholar,  as  well  as  priest  and  di 
vine,  Grotius,  as  declaring  man-stealing  to  be  the 
very  highest  kind  of  theft.  But  it  was  away  back  in 
1794.  The  one  unalterable  truth  was,  the  leading 
clergy  never  held  slavery  to  be  sin,  in  any  such  sense 
as  even  mere  heretical  offenses.  Here  is  the  general 
assembly,  meekly  and  humbly  confessing  that  it  "'pos 
sesses  no  judicial,  no  legislative  authority  to  reach 
such  "sum  of  all  villainies"  as  slave-breeding  and 
slave-holding,  and  drive  it  out  of  church  communion 
and  fellowship  !  Does  anybody  believe  that  if  it  were 
a  question  of  robbing  hen-roosts,  instead  of  cradles 
and  trundle-beds,  a  way  would  not  have  been  made, 
had  none  existed,  out  of  dilemma  so  dreadful,  in  all 
the  years  between  1794  and  1846?  Church  mem 
bers  and  ministers  have  been  expelled  from  the 
churches  for  denying  or  doubting  the  right  or  validity 
of  infant  baptism,  where  infant-stealers,  where  baby- 
breeders  for  the  slave  shambles,  were  welcomed  to 
both  pulpit  and  sacramental  supper  !  Is  it,  then,  too 
much  to  say,  that  denominational  differences  in  the 
American  churches  have  been  deemed  greater  offenses 
and  to  be  more  severely  and  summarily  punished 
than  all  the  atrocities  connected  with  the  holding  of 
slaves  ? 

A.    B.    C.    F.    M. 

The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  was  organized  in  the  year  1810.  It  was  com- 


394  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

posed  of  ministers  and  members  of  the  Congregational 
and  Presbyterian  churches  mainly,  and  its  sole  object 
was  to  operate  among  heathen  nations  and  tribes, 
with  a  view  to  their  enlightenment,  elevation  and  cul 
tivation.  Its  membership  was  gathered  from  north 
and  south,  its  missionaries,  in  one  instance,  Rev.  John 
Leighton  Wilson,  a  slave-holder,  (and  according  to 
his  statement  there  were  others)  as  well  as  young  min 
isters  and  their  wives  from  non-slave-holding  states  ; 
and  its  treasury  was  supplied  from  the  northern  and 
southern  states,  the  gifts  of  those  whose  wealth  as  well 
as  traffic,  was  in  " slaves  and  souls  of  men,"  And 
Judge  Birney's  tract  contains  an  authentic  account  of 
one  legacy  left  to  the  Board,  bequeathed  for  the  ben 
efit  of  the  Indian  mission,  which  for  some  reason  was 
in  litigation  in  the  Georgia  courts.  And  an  advertise 
ment  copied  from  the  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
Courier  of  February  12,  1835,  was  to  this  purport  : 

"  FIELD  NEGROES. 

By  Thomas  Gadsden.  On  Tuesday,  the  iyth  inst, 
will  be  sold  at  the  north  of  the  Exchange,  at  ten 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  a  prime  gang  of 

TEN    NEGROES, 

accustomed  to  the  culture  of  cotton  and  provisions,, 
belonging  to  the  Independent  church,  in  Christ's 
church  parish. 

February  6,  1835." 

What  was  here  but  "  trade  in  slaves  and  souls  of 
men  ?" 

In  the  United  States  the  operations  of  the  board 
extended  only  to  the  Indian  tribes,  and  to  but  few  of 
them,  chiefly  the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws.  The 
American  board,  like  the  general  assembly,  and  at 
about  the  same  time,  became  greatly  disturbed  by  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  395 

agitation  of  the  question  of  slavery.  And  like  the 
general  assembly,  they  referred  the  whole  matter  to 
committees  for  examination  and  report.  In  1845, 
petitions  and  memorials  against  slavery  were  so  many 
that  the  board  seemed  compelled  to  something  more 
declarative  than  in  preceding  years  in  regard  to  them. 
Accordingly  an  august  committee  of  nine  was  elected, 
all  eminent  men,  Rev.  Dr.  Woods,  of  Andover  Theo 
logical  Seminary,  chairman.  Their  report,  of  nine 
closely-printed  octavo  pages,  is  before  me,  but  no 
change  of  former  action  is  even  recommended,  either 
by  the  board  itself  or  by  its  missionaries.  The  bur 
den  of  complaint  was  that  missionaries  admitted  slave 
holders  to  the  mission  churches  sustained  by  the 
moneys  of  the  board,  contributed  by  the  churches. 
The  charge  was  admitted,  but  justified  thus : 

The  primary  object  aimed  at  in  missions  should  be 
to  bring  men  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  Christ,  by  mak 
ing  known  to  them  the  way  of  salvation  through  His 
cross.  The  missionaries  acting  under  the 

commission  of  Christ  and  with  the  instruction  of  the 
New  Testament  before  them,  are  themselves  at  first, 
and  subsequently  with  the  cnurches  they  have  gath 
ered,  the  rightful  and  exclusive  judges  of  what  consti 
tutes  adequate  evidence  of  purity  and  fitness  for 
church  fellowship  in  professed  converts. 
The  indulgence  of  any  known  sin,  and  the  neglect  of 
any  known  duty,  are  to  be  decidedly  discountenanced. 

*  *         In  respect  to  social  and  moral  evils,  with 
which  missionaries  are  to  come  in  contact  in  proscu- 
ting  their  work,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  they 
are  by  no  means  few  or  of  limited   territorial  extent. 
The  evils  of  slavery  will  probably  be  met  jn  some  form 
in  nearly    every   part  of  the   great    missionary    field. 

*  *         Should  it  be  found,  as  the  result  of  experi 
ence,  that  souls  among  the  heathen  are  in  fact  regen 
erated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  before  they  are  freed  from 
all  participation  in  the  social  and  moral  evils,  and  that 

25 


396       ACTS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  APOSTLES. 

convincing  evidence  can  be  given  that  they  are  regen 
erated,  then  may  not  the  master  and  the  slave,  the 
ruler  and  the  subject,  giving  such  evidence  of  spir 
itual  renovation,  be  all  gathered  into  the  same  fold  of 
Christ?  *  In  proceeding  on  these  princi 

ples  the  missions,  under  the  care  of  this  board  and  the 
churches  gathered  under  them,  are  no  otherwise  con 
nected  with  slavery  than  they  are  with  every  other 
evidence  and  result  of  imperfect  moral  renovation  in 
their  converts  and  church  members.  And  they  no 
more  really  give  their  sanction  to  the  one  than  they  do 
to  all  the  others. 

It  may  be  well  to  show  here  what  some  of  those 
social  and  moral  evils  are,  which  are  enumerated  in 
this  report.  Next  to  slavery  castes  in  India  come  ; 
then  "  unrestrained  exactions  made  in  the  form  of 
revenues  ;"  then  "  military  or  other  service  connected 
with  a  species  of  feudalism,"  and  lastly,  and  later  in 
the  report,  "  Polygamy  !  " 

Exactly  how  many  wrongs  are  required  to  make  one 
right,  or  to  justify  one  wrong,  the  board  does  not 
show.  It  seems  to  plead  guilty  to  sanctifying  so  many 
at  the  outset.  But  paying  taxes  and  performing  mili 
tary  service  are  not  counted  "  social  and  moral  evils," 
nor  yet  fi  results  of  imperfect  moral  development"  in 
the  United  States  nor  Great  Britain.  But  even  should 
the  mission  converts  be  compelled  to  most  oppressive 
taxation,  in  whatever  form,  they  surely  are  never  re 
quired  to  perpetrate  slave-holding  nor  polygamy,  for 
both  of  which  the  missionaries  of  the  board  were 
called  to  account,  and  were  not  only  proved,  but,  to  a 
limited  extent,  actually  pleaded  guilty.  But  to  return 
to  the  report  : 

Your  committee  believe  that  no  established  system 
of  involuntary  servitude  prevails  among  any  tribe  of 
North  American  Indians  where  the  missionaries  of  this 
board  are  laboring,  except  the  Cherokees  and  Choc- 


ACTS    OF     ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  397 

taws.     *  The  following  statements  will  there 

fore  relate   to  the   Cherokee  and   Choctaw  missions, 

Negro  slaves  appear  to  have  been  intro 
duced  among  those  Indians  by  white  men,  who  re 
moved  into  their  country  from  sixty  to  eighty  years 
ago,  and  to  have  gradually  increased  in  number,  till 
the  missions  were  established  among  them  in  1817 
and  1818.  By  a  census  taken  in  1820,  Cherokees 
were  holding  five  hundred  and  eighty-three  slaves. 

The  number  now  owned  by  both  tribes 
may  probably  be  not  far  from  two  thousand  ;  while 
the  number  of  Indians  in  both  tribes  is  thirty-eight 
thousand.  *  That  slavery  should  exist  at 

all  in  these  tribes  who  have  suffered  so  severely  from 
the  violation  of  their  own  rights  by  their  white  neigh 
bors,  is  deeply  to  be  regretted.  And  all  should  earn 
estly  pray  that  as  social  improvement  and  Christian 
knowledge  are  advancing  rapidly  among  them,  they 
may  rapidly  exemplify  the  spirit  of  the  true  philan 
thropy  as  well  as  the  gospel  law  of  love,  by  showing 
that  they  duly  appreciate  the  rights  and  welfare  of 
the  whole  race  of  man.  *  * 
*  "Relative  to  the  principles  on  which  converts  were 
to  be  received  to  the  churches,  all  the  missionaries  of 
the  board  among  the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws,  seem 
to  have  been  perfectly  unanimous,  Both  masters  and 
slaves,"  says  Mr.  Buttrick,  "  I  receive  on  the  same 
principle,  viz.,  on  the  ground  of  their  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  Mr.  Worcester  says:  "The  general 
principle  on  which  I  have  voted  for  the  reception  of 
members  is  that  all  are  to  be  received  who  desire  it, 
and  give  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart."  Mr.  Wright 
says  :  "  When  any,  whether  masters  or  servants,  have 
given  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart,  of  repentance 
and  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  they  have  been  re 
ceived."  * 

*  *  "  The  whole  number  of  the 

Cherokee  tribe  is  about  eighteen  thousand,  and  the 
number  of  slaves  owned  by  them  is  probably  about 
one  thousand.  The  whole  number  of  church  mem 
bers  in  this  tribe  is  two  hundred  and  forty,  of  whom 
fifteen  hold  slaves,  and  twenty-one  are  themselves 


398  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

slaves.  The  Choctaw  tribe,  including  the  Chickasaws, 
is  about  twenty  thousand.  The  whole  number  con 
nected  with  our  churches  there  is  six  hundred  and 
three,  of  whom  twenty  hold  slaves,  one  hundred  and 
thirty-one  are  slaves,  and  seven  are  free  negroes. 

Mr.  Byington   says  :     "  We 

give  such  instruction  to  masters  and  servants  as  are 
contained  in  the  epistles,  and  yet  not  in  a"  way  to  give 
the  subject  a  peculiar  prominence,  for  then  it  would 
seem  to  be  personal,  as  there  are  usually  but  one  or 
two  slave-holders  present.  In  private,  we  converse 
about  all  the  ills  and  dangers  of  slavery."  Mr.  Wright 
says  :  "  The  instructions,  public  and  private,  direct 
and  indirect,  have  been  such  as  are  found  in  the 
Bible.  *  *  * 

"  Strongly  as  your  commit 
tee  are  convinced  of  the  wrongfulness  and  evil  ten 
dencies  of  slaveholding,  and  ardently  as  they  desire 
its  speedy  termination,  still  they  cannot  think  that  in 
all  cases,  it  involves  individual  guilt,  in  such  manner 
that  every  person  implicated  in  it  can  on  scriptural 
grounds  be  excluded  from  church  fellowship.  In  the 
language  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  '  Distinction  ought  to  be 
made  betwixt  the  character  of  a  system,  and  the  char 
acter  of  the  persons  whom  circumstances  have  impli 
cated  in  it.' 

*  "  Such,  substantially,  are  the 
views  of  your  committee  ;  and  the  more  they  study 
God's  method  of  proceeding  in  regard  to  war,  slavery, 
polygamy,  and  other  kindred  social  wrongs,  as  it  is  un 
folded  in  the  Bible,  the  more  they  are  convinced  that 
in  dealing  with  individuals  implicated  in  those  wrongs, 
of  long  standing,  and  intimately  interwoven  with  the 
relations  and  movements  of  the  social  system,  the  ut 
most  kindness  and  forbearance  are  to  be  exercised, 
which  are  compatible  with  steady  adherence  to  prin 
ciple.  Some  of  the  slave-holders 
have  been  known  to  require  their  slaves  to  attend 
meetings  and  other  opportunities  for  obtaining  reli 
gious  instruction,  and  all  are  believed  to  favor  their 
doing  so.  Before  it  was  forbidden  by  law,  in  1841, 
numbers  of  their  slaves  were  taught  to  read,  in  Sab- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  399 

bath  and  week-day  schools.  And  such  instruction  is 
still,  to  some  extent,  given  in  private,  and  seven  out 
of  fourteen  slaves  in  Fairfield  church,  in  the  Cherokee 
country,  can  read,  and  one  can  write.  *  *  * 
One  who  has  been  occasionally  employed  as  a  helper 
in  missionary  work,  highly  esteemed  for  intelligence 
and  exemplary  piety,  has  been  left  by  the  will  of  his 
master,  manager  of  his  property,  and  virtually  guar 
dian  of  his  orphan  child  and  heir.  *  *  * 

"That   the   missionaries  among 

these  Indians  have  been  faithful  in  their  work,  seems 
evident,  not  only  from  their  own  statements,  but  also 
from  the  fact  that  the  holy  spirit  has  most  remarkably 
owned  and  blessed  their  labors,  the  hopeful  converts 
among  the  Choctaws  being  proportionately  more  nu-% 
merous  than  those  in  any  other  mission  connected 
with  the  board,  except  that  at  the  Sandwich  Islands." 
Finally,  the  report  closes  with  this  remarkable  con 
fession,  without  proposing  any  change,  or  system  of 
operations  that  would  tend  to  remove  the  atrocious 
slave  system,  or  ameliorate  the  condition  of  one  of  its 
victims.  Here  is  the  conclusion  of  the  report,  the 
names  of  the  committee  appended  to  it  : 

"  There  can  be  no  prospect  of  benefiting  the  slave, 
in  a  slave  country,  without  the  consent  of  the  owner. 
The  only  hope  we  can  have  of  benefiting  either  the 
one  or  the  other,  is  through  the  influence  of  the  gos 
pel  ;  and  the  gospel,  to  be  effectual  must  be  conveyed 
in  the  spirit  of  meekness  and  love." 

LEONARD  WOODS, 
BEN  NET  TYLER, 
REUBEN  N.  WALWORTH, 
THOMAS  W.  WILLIAMS, 
CALVIN  E.  STOWE, 
BENJAMIN  TAPPAN, 
DAVID  SANFORD, 
JAMES  W.  McLANE, 
DAVID  GREENE. 

The  American  board  is  occupying  much  space,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  it  represented  the  Con 
gregational  and  Presbyterian  church  and  clergy  of 


400  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

4 

the  country  at  that  time,  both  as  to  religion  at  home 
and  as  sent  to  the  heathen  abroad.  Abolitionists 
charged  that  it  was  a  pro-slavery  religion,  and  in  no 
sense  anti-slavery.  None  denied  that  there  were  hon 
orable  exceptions  ;  but  as  in  the  state,  so  in  the 
church,  the  governing  influence,  and  power  upheld 
and  extended  slavery,  and  so  slavery  continued,  and 
its  victims  were  multiplied. 

The  report  underwent  long  discussion,  and  scanty 
extracts  of  the  arguments  are  here  given.  Rev.  Dr. 
Tyler,  president  of  a  Connecticut  theological  semi 
nary,  said  :  "  The  apostles  admitted  slave-holders  to 
the  church,  and  for  this  board  to  decide  against  it 
would  be  to  impeach  the  apostles." 

Rev,  Dr.  Bacon,  another  Connecticut  divine,  said  : 
"  The  board  ought  to  make  a  distinction  between  sla 
very  ami  slave-holding,  a  distinction  that  I  deem  ex 
tremely  obvious.  The  master  does  not  make  the  man 
a  slave,  but  the  laws  and  constitution  of  society." 
Readers  will  remember  that  Dr.  Bacon  was  before  us 
not  very  long  ago,  with  his  anti-slavery.  He  was 
famous  at  definitions,  and  stating  and  adjusting  issues, 
not  one  of  which  I  think  he  declared  "  raised  by  Gar 
rison,  was  ever  accepted."  But  here  was  a  definition 
to  be  admired,  a  distinction  to  be  remembered  ;  a 
"distinction  between  slavery  and  slave-holding."  A 
distinction  between  horse-stealing  and  stealing  horses. 
"  The  master  does  not  make  the  man  a  slave."  To  be 
sure,  he  takes  him,  works  him  ;  takes  her,  works  her, 
and  if  there  be  children,  the  laws  say  "they  shall  fol 
low  the  condition  of  the  mother  !  "  Not  the  father. 
There  was  often  a  too  striking  resemblance  between 
the  owner  or  overseer,  and  the  children,  for  that.  )  So 
the  children  followed  the  condition  of  the  mother. 
And  thus  Dr.  Bacon's  innocent  slave-holder  enjoyed 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  40! 

all  the  profits  of  the  outrageous  robbery  and  wrong, 
from  generation  to  generation,  and  the  "laws  and 
constitution  of  society  "  suffered  the  perdition  which 
otherwise  the  thief  and  robber  must  meet. 

Dr.  Stowe,  of  another  theological  seminary,  said  : 
"I  would  sooner  die,  than  say  our  missionaries  ought 
to  enter  their  open  protest  against  all  the  evils  with 
which  they  may  come  in  contact.  *  *  * 

Jacob  lived  with  four  women  at  once.  Had  there 
been  an  organized  church  then,  must  Jacob  have  been 
excluded  ? "  *  *  *  « These  examples 

are  for  our  instruction,  and  give  us  just  the  light  we 
need  in  this  matter." 

And  Dr.  Beecher  said:  "Masters  and  slaves  ex 
isted  in  the  primitive  churches,  and  it  was  allowed  by 
Christ  and  his  apostles.  Slavery  is  an  organic  sin, 
made  by  law,  and  therefore  not  dealt  with  as  other 
sins." 

'"  Organic  sin."  That  was  good.  That  was  worthy 
of  Dr.  Bacon.  I  remember  a  wicked  wag  who  asked, 
on  reading  it,  "  Could  not  the  laws  and  constitution 
of  society  organize  all  the  sins  ?  and  then  we  could 
rush  in  the  millennium  as  by  spontaneous  com 
bustion."  / 

The  report  was  thus  severely  criticised,  and  how 
earnestly  was  shown  in  the  strange  fact  that,  on  taking 
the  vote,  there  was  not  one  dissenting  voice  ! 

And  it  is ^  certain  that  most  of  the  churches,  and 
doubtless  many  ministers,  were  ignorant  that  one  of 
their  own  missionaries  was  owning  slaves  at  home 
while  preaching  to  the  Africans  in  their  own  native 
land.  Nor  did  they  know  what  laws  the  Choctaw  and 
Cherokee  Indians  enacted  to  protect  themselves  in 
slave-holding,  after  the  missionaries  went  among 


402  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

them.  The  Indians  had  heard  of  the  abolitionists^ 
and  doubtless  feared,  if  they  did  not  suspect  the  mis 
sionaries  themselves. 

The  secretaries  and  directors  of  the  board  knew  all 
about  those  slavery-protecting  enactments,  as  well  as 
did  their  missionaries  ;  but  they  did  not  disclose  all 
they  knew.  They  did  not  for  a  long  time  tell  that 
John  Leighton  Wilson,  one  of  their  African  mission 
aries,  was  himself  an  owner  and  holder  of  slaves. 
The  Boston  Recorder  did,  and  the  Congregational  Ob 
server  said  :  "  The  secretaries  have  not  acted  with 
their  usual  judgment  in  suppressing  the  letter  of  Mr. 
Wilson,  for  six  years" — a  letter  as  was  said,  announc 
ing  that  he,  and  even  other  missionaries,  owned  slaves. 

Here  are  a  few  examples  of  Indian  legislation  to 
protect  the  holding  of  slaves  in  the  nations  : 

"Beit  enacted  by  the  national  council,  that  from 
and  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  it  shall  not  be  lawful 
for  any  person  or  persons  to  teach  any  free  negro  or 
negress,  not  of  Cherokee  blood,  nor  any  slave,  belong 
ing  to  any  citizen  or  citizens  of  the  nation,  to  read  or 
write."  The  annexed  penalty  is  "fine  not  less  than 
one  hundred,  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  court." 

Another  statute  prohibited  slaves  from  "owning  any 
horses,  cattle,  swine,  or  fire-arms."  The  reason  as 
signed  for  such  legislation  was,  that  the  ownership  of 
such  property  by  slaves,  "  has  become  a  nuisance  to 
the  master,  and  a  temptation  to  theft." 

In  1836,  the  Choctaws  enacted  :  "That  from  and 
after  the  passage  of  this.act,  (and  it  was  almost  twenty 
years  after  the  mission  had  been  established),  if  any 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  acting  as  a  missionary, 
or  a  preacher,  or  whatever  his  occupation  may  be,  is 
found  to  take  active  part  in  favoring  the  principles 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  403 

and  notions  of  the  most  fatal  and  destructive  doc 
trines  of  abolitionism,  he  shall  be  compelled  to  leave 
the  nation,  and  forever  to  stay  out  of  it. 

"And  be  it  further  enacted  :  That  teaching  slaves 
how  to  read,  to  write,  or  to  sing,  in  meeting-houses  or 
schools,  or  in  any  open  place,  without  the  consent  of 
the  owner,  or  allowing  them  to  sit  at  table  with  him, 
shall  be  sufficient  ground  to  convict  persons  of  favor 
ing  the  principles  and  notions  of  abolitionism." 

And  this  one  more,  enacted  on  the  i5th  of  October, 
1846,  almost  at  the  very  moment  of  the  meeting  of 
the  board  when  the  report  of  the  committee  of  nine 
was  made,  now  under  our  consideration  : 

"  Be  it  enacted  ;  That  no  negro  slave  can  be 
emancipated  in  this  nation,  except  by  application,  or 
petition  of  the  owner  to  the  general  council.  And 
provided  also  that  it  shall  be  made  to  appear  to  the 
council,  that  the  owner  or  owners,  at  the  time  of  ap 
plication,  shall  have  no  debt  or  debts  outstanding 
against  him,  her,  or  them,  either  in  or  out  of  this  na 
tion.  Then,  and  in  that  case,  the  general  council 
shall  have  power  to  pass  an  act  for  the  owner  to 
emancipate  his  or  her  slave,  which  slave,  after  being 
freed,  shall  leave  this  nation  within  thirty  days  after 
the  passage  of  this  act.  And  in  case  any  such  slave 
or  slaves  shall  return  into  this  nation  afterwards,  he, 
she,  or  they,  shall  be  exposed  to  public  sale  for  the 
term  of  five  years,  and  the  proceeds  of  such  sale  shall 
be  used  as  national  funds." 

And  now  the  most  remarkable  word  of  all  remains 
to  be  spoken.  The  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  held  its  anniver 
saries  regularly  ;  made  annual  and  most  elaborate  re 
ports  ;  some  of  them  showing  frightful  pictures  of  the 
slave  system  among  the  Cherokee  and  Choctaw 
churches  and  church  members.  But  in  the  year  1859, 


404  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES 

the  board  reported  its  work  done  in  the  Choctaw  na 
tion,  and  in  1860,  in  the  Cherokee,  and  gave  its  legit 
imate,  logical  reason  :  "  The  Cherokees  are  a  Chris 
tian  people."  *  *  * 

"  The  committee  have  arrived 

at  the  conclusion  that  it  is  time  to  discontinue  its  ex 
penditures  among  the  Cherokees.  To  prevent  all 
misapprehension,  it  should  be  stated  at  the  outset  : 
First,  that  this  is  not  owing  to  the  relations  of  our  work 
among  those  Indians  to  the  system  of  slavery."  The 
Choctaw  mission  was  similarly  closed,  in  1859. 

O,  no!  "Slavery  had  nothing  to  do  with  it!" 
The  board  found  slavery  among  the  Indians  in  1817, 
accepted  it  as  of  divine  appointment,  and  compelled 
its  missionaries  to  accept  it,  and  they  did  ;  as  did  the 
churches  and  pulpits  that  sustained  them,  When  the 
anti-slavery  agitation  reached  to  the  churches,  and 
protests  were  sent  up  against  a  slave-holding  religion, 
supported  at  home,  and  sent  abroad  to  the  heathen, 
the  Board  refused  to  interfere.  And  once  when  the 
Sandwich  Island  missionaries  sent  home  a  most  power 
ful  remonstrance  against  slave-holding  in  the  churches 
as  a  hindrance  to  their  missionary  work  as  well  as 
false  to  the  true  Christian  faith,  the  Board  suppressed 
their  testimony,  and  by  solemn  resolution  duly  adopted, 
recorded  and  published,  virtually  imposed  silence  on 
the  subject,  at  every  missionary  station  under  its 
patronage.  When  the  interest  on  the  subject  began 
to  threaten  loss  to  the  treasury,  then  the  Board  by  its 
Secretaries  attempted,  by  argument  to  justify  slavery 
as  supported  by  scripture  ;  by  patriarchal  practice  and 
apostolic  approval,  the  very  chiefest  apostle  actually, 
as  was  claimed,  voluntarily  restoring  a  runaway  slave 
to  his  owner.  From  1817  to  1860,  more  than  forty 
years,  did  the  Board  conduct  the  religious  and  moral 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  405 

education  of  those  Indian  tribes,  gathering  them  into 
churches  :  masters  and  slaves  alike,  with  this  law  in 
full  force  : 

No  slave,  or  child  of  a  slave,  is  to  be  taught  to  read 
or  write,  in  or  at  any  school,  by  any  one  connected  in 
any  capacity  therewith,  on  pain  of  dismissal  and 
expulsion  from  the  nation. 

And  now  one  thought  more,  and  the  Board  and  all 
its  work  shall  be  discharged  from  further  consid 
eration. 

In  1860  the  Cherokees,  and  in  1859  the  Choctaws, 
were  graduated  by  the  Board  from  paganism  to  Chris 
tianity  with  full  credentials,  as  no  longer  in  the  dark 
ness  of  the  heathen  world.  In  1861,  the  war  of 
Rebellion  set  the  country  on  fire.  The  Indian  tribes 
were  early  awake  to  the  situation.  The  New  York 
Evangelist,  on  the  2ist  of  March  of  the  same  year, 
1861,  said;  "the  Cherokee,  Choctaw,  and  other 
Indian  tribes  of  the  south-west,  nearly  all  of  them 
slave-holders,  are  evidently  under  the  influence  of  the 
secessionists.  The  principal  Choctaw  chief  hastened 
to  convene  the  local  legislature  *  *  and 

recommended  a  general  council  of  the  Chickasaws, 
Creeks,  Seminoles  and  Choctaws  to  be  held  at  a  cen 
tral  point  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  some  line  of 
policy  necessary  to  their  security. 

In  August  following,  the  New  York  Journal  of 
Commerce  announced  that  :  "  The  Choctaws,  Creeks, 
Seminoles  and  Chickasaws  have  given  their  adher 
ence  to  the  Confederates,  and  probably  the  Cherokees 
are  divided  on  the  question." 

Of  the  rest,  we  know  enough.  How  well  and  truly 
was  it  said  at  the  opening  of  the  war  of  Rebellion,  "in 
the  forty-two  years  of  the  maintenance  of  the  Chero 
kee  and  Choctaw  missions,  by  the  American  Board, 


406  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

they  have  connived  at  slavery,  avoiding,  by  various  dis 
honorable  and  dishonest  means  and  contrivances,  the 
hard  duty  of  reformation.  Now  they  go  a  step  fur 
ther,  spontaneously  and  publicly  vouching  for  slave- 
holding  churches  as  Christian  churches,  and  for  a 
nation  upholding  the  worst  form  of  slavery,  as  "a 
Christian  people. ' ' 

And  between  four  and  five  thousand  armed  Indian 
Warriors,  led  by  an  able  Boston-born  general,  the 
tallest,  handsomest  officer  in  the  rebel  army,  at  the  bat 
tle  of  Pea  Ridge,  fighting  in  a  war  waged  by  slave 
holders  and  waged  wholly  for  slavery,  and  nothing 
else,  was  a  spectacle  worthy  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  ! 

THE    BAPTIST    CHURCH. 

Or  if  we  turn  to  the  Baptist  denomination  with  its 
vast  proportion  in  the  slave  states,  the  record  will  not 
improve  ;  and  in  that  again  we  can  learn  its  spirit 
and  position  through  its  great  national  Foreign 
Missionary  Association  known  in  early  anti-slavery 
days  as  The  Baptist  Triennial  Convention.  The  har 
mony  in  it  seems  never  to  have  been  disturbed  by  the 
slavery  problem  till  broken  by  the  tocsin  of  the  aboli 
tionists.  For  so  late  as  the  year  1834,  Rev.  Dr.  Bolles, 
of  Boston,  one  of  its  Secretaries  of  correspondence  in 
'an  official  paper,  said  : 

There  is  a  pleasing  degree  of  union  among  the  mul 
tiplying  thousands  of  Baptists  throughout  the  land. 
Our  southern  brethren  are  generally 
slave-holders,  both  ministers  and  people. 

And  another  Boston  Baptist  doctor  of  divinity,  Rev. 
Daniel  Sharp,  wrote  under  date  January  2ist,  1840  : 
"There  were  undoubtedly  both  slave-holders  and  slaves 
in  the  primitive  churches  ;  I  therefore  for  one,  do  not 
feel  myself  at  liberty  to  make  conditions  of  commun- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  407 

ion  which  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  made.     I  do 
not  feel  myself  wiser  nor  better  than  were  they  ; 
*  and  I  believe  that  a  majority  of  the  wisest 

and  best  men  at  the  north  hold  to  these  sentiments." 

In  1841,  at  the  Triennial  convention  and  by  appoint 
ment,  a  slave-holder  presided,  another  slave-holder 
performed  the  devotional  exercises,  and  a  third  slave 
holder  preached  the  Triennial  sermon  ;  and  the  Rev. 
Elon  Galusha,  of  New  York,  an  earnest,  outspoken 
anti-slavery  man,  was  removed  from  the  Board  of 
Management,  partly,  or  principally,  from  demands 
like  this  of  the  Camden,  South  Carolina  Baptist 
church  : 

Resolved,  That  we  view  with  contempt,  the  advice, 
opinions,  menaces  and  declarations  of  Elon  Galusha 
and  his  coadjuutors  contained  in  their  address  to 
southern  Baptists. 

Resolved,  That  we  recommend  to  our  associations 
to  use  their  influence  to  have  Elon  Galusha  expelled 
from  his  office  as  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions. 

The  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh,  ran  thus  : 

Resolved,  That  we  extend  to  northern  Baptists  who 
are  opposed  to  the  abolitionists,  our  warmest  affection 
and  fraternal  regard.  They  will  ever  have  an  interest 
in  our  prayers. 

Resolved,  That  the  address  of  Elon  Galusha  be 
returned  to  him,  with  request  that  he  will  never  again 
insult  us  with  an  address  of  any  kind. 

Resolved,  That  these  proceedings  be  published  in 
the  Christian  Index,  The  Biblical  Recorder,  Religious 
Herald,  New  York  Baptist  Advocate,  and  Camden 
Journal. 

C.  M.  BLEEKER,  Chairman, 

E.  G.  ROBINSON,  Secretary. 

And  as  already  told,  Mr.  Galusha  was  removed. 
All  the  proceedings  appeared  to  have  been  in  keeping 


408  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

with  such  expulsion  ;  for  the  meeting  closed  with  the 
sacramental  supper  and  singing: 

Lo,  what  an  entertaining  sight 
Are  brethren  who  agree  ! 

A  member  writing  to  the  Biblical  Recorder  and 
Southern  Watchman,  thus  rejoices  : 

Our  meeting  was  truly  delightful.  The  spirit  of 
the  gospel  prevailed,  and  gave  a  tremendous  shock 
to  the  abolitionists.  Let  us  be  thankful  to  God,  and 
give  him  the  glory.  And  now,  if  we  of  the  south  and 
they  of  the  north,  whose  sympathies  are  with  us,  shall 
be  mild  I  am  satisfied  that  abolitionism  will  go  down 
among  Baptists.  All  our  "  principal  men"  are  sound 
to  the  core  on  this  vexed  question. 

The  Triennial  Convention  exhibited  a  noble  spec 
tacle  of  moral  grandeur.  About  two  hundred  and 
fifty  men  from  the  various  parts  of  our  extended  coun 
try  were  engaged  in  a  long  and  arduous  session,  that 
tried  the  temper  and  put  into  requisition  all  the  intel 
lectual  energy  which  they  possessed.  And  all  this  in 
connection  with  a  most  exciting  subject.  And  yet, 
self-possession,  calmness,  the  Christian  spirit,  predom 
inated  throughout  the  whole  scene.  No  tumult,  no 
angry  feeling,  no  harsh  expression  had  place  in  our 
deliberations  and  conclusions.  At  the  communion 
board  on  Lord's  day  the  scene  was  overwhelming.  In 
view  of  the  cross  the  hundreds  that  participated  were 
all  one.  No  test,  other  than  that  of  our  dear  Lord's 
requirement,  was  thought  of.  To  God  be  all  the  glory, 
Amen  and  Amen. 

But  such  dissatisfaction  arose  among  the  now  "  prin 
cipal  men"  in  the  convention  that  before  the  next  Tri 
ennial  gathering  a  division  occurred.  A  new  but 
small  rival  society  was  formed.  One  principal  reason 
assigned  being  that  -gifts  of  slave-holders  should  not 
mingle  with  northern  contributions  in  the  missionary 
treasury,  since  God  had  said  "  I  hate  robbery  for  a 
burnt  offering." 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.         .        409 

But  the  extent  of  principle  and  height  of  integrity  of 
this  new  and  sublimated  movement,  was  seen  in  the 
fact,  that  when,  just  afterwards,  the  old  board  sus 
tained  a  loss  by  a  failure  in  India,  there  was  an  imme 
diate  appropriation  of  five  hundred  dollars  voted  to  it, 
with  all  its  slavery,  out  of  this  purified  treasury.  The 
following  is  the  official  record  of  the  proceeding  : 

Whereas,  The  Foreign  Mission  Board  have  re 
cently  sustained  a  heavy  loss,  by  the  failure  of  their 
banker  at  Calcutta,  and  thus  appropriated  supplies  are 
cut  off  from  the  missionaries  in  Asia  ;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  treasurer  of  this  committee  be 
instructed  to  forward,  as  soon  as  possible,  five  hun 
dred  dollars  from  funds  now  in  the  treasury,  to  the 
relief  of  the  missionaries,  "  to  be  expended  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  Judson  and  Mr.  Vinton." 

[Signed]  S.  G.  SHIPLEY,  Chairman. 

C.  W.  DENISON,  Secretary. 

The  new  association  seems  to  have  been  shortlived, 
for  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  old  board,  all  partieSj 
old  and  new  were  present,  and  the  proceedings  were 
as  unanimous  almost  as  before  slavery  had  ever  dis 
turbed  them.  The  president,  a  North  Carolina  slave 
holder,  declined  a  reelection,  on  the  ground  that,  as 
for  more  than  thirty  years  the  chief  officer  had  been 
selected  from  the  slaves  states,  it  was  time  the  boon 
should  be  conferred  on  the  north.  Accordingly,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Wayland,  of  Providence,  on  the  second  bal- 
lotting,  was  elected  to  that  office. 

The  subject  of  Slavery  was  introduced  and  disposed 
of  by  the  passage  of  the  following  resolution,  ONLY 
TWO  voting  in  the  negative  : 

Resolved,  That  cooperating  together  as  members  of 
this  convention  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  we 
disclaim  all  sanction,  either  express  or  implied,  of 
slavery  or  anti-slavery  j  but  as  individuals  we  are  free- 
to  express  and  promote  our  view  on  this  or  other  sub 
jects,  in  a  Christian  manner  and  spirit. 


410       >         ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Rev.  Mr.  Davis,  of  New  York,  [neighbor  of  Elon 
Galusha]  then  remarked  with  much  exultation,  if  not 
exaltation,  that  the  convention  had  passed  a  stupendous 
crisis,  and  moved  a  season  of  devotional  exercises. 
The  season  was  voted,  a  northern  minister,  Mr.  Webb, 
of  Philadelphia,  gave  thanks,  and  they  closed  with 
singing  the  Doxology,  by  the  congregation, 

"  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow." 

In  view  of  the  passage  of  the  above  resolution,  the 
editor  of  the  Boston  Christian  Reflector,  a  professedly 
anti-slavery  journal,  most  complacently  remarked  : 

"  It  will  be  seen  by  the  passage  of  the  resolution  on 
Friday,  that  we  are  no  longer  required  to  fellowship 
slavery  or  slave-holders,  as  such,  in  the  work  of  mis 
sions." 

But  had  the  business  related  to  infant  sprinkling 
instead  of  infant  stealing,  or  on  immersion  as  baptism, 
instead  of  sprinkling,  the  whole  past  history  of  this 
immense  denomination  throughout  Christendom  proves 
it  would  never  have  been  so  easily  nor  so  amicably 
adjusted.  In  1846,  a  new  association  was  incorpora 
ted  under  the  name  of  "The  American  Baptist  Mis 
sionary  Union,"  and  the  old  triennial  was  no  more. 
The  first  article  of  the  new  constitution  designates  the 
name,  the  second  the  object  of  the  society.  The  third 
provides  that  "persons,  "  without  reference  to  place, 
"  may  be  life  members,  by  the  payment  at  one  time  of 
not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars."  The  twenty-first 
article  declares  that  the  officers  and  missionaries  of 
the  association  "  shall  be  members  in  good  standing  of 
regular  Baptist  churches."  No  north  nor  south  any 
more. 

It  has  been  contended  that  this  association  was 
formed  with  particular  reference  to  a  separation  from 
slavery.  I  was  so  informed  by  an  officer  of  the  board. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  411 

But  there  was  no  such  intimation,  either  in  the  act  of 
incorporation  or  the  constitution.  Among  the  life 
members  were  persons  from  Missouri,  Mississippi, 
Delaware,  and  Georgia  ;  and  the  first  meetijig  of  the 
board  of  managers  was  organized  by  the  choice  of  a 
president  from  a  free,  and  a  secretary  from  a  slave 
state.  The  first  meeting  of  the  union  was  opened  with 
prayer  by  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Colver,  of  Boston.  All 
these  proceedings,  and  others,  are  appended  to  the 
annual  report  of  the  old  Baptist  convention  for  1846. 
But  enough  about  the  mission  movements  as  be 
tween  south  and  north,  or  between  slavery  and  anti- 
slavery.  The  Baptist  denomination,  like  the  others, 
had  hosts  of  anti-slavery  men  and  women  ;  but  the 
ruling  power  was  for  slavery,  or  the  system  could  not 
have  survived  as  it  did,  till  stove  down  by  the  aveng 
ing  bolts  of  eternal  wrath. 

iMETHODIST    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

Coming  now  to  the  mighty  Methodist  denomination 
it  would  be  a  relief  and  joy  if  a  far  better  record  could 
be  given.  But  to  write  history,  not  make  it,  is  the 
work  still  in  hand. 

Two  copies  of  the  Methodist  Book  of  Discipline  are 
before  me,  of  different  dates,  but  both  contain  an  ad 
dress  "  To  the  Members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  signed  by  the  bishops,  in  which  it  is  declared  : 
"  We  wish  to  see  this  little  publication  in  the  house  of 
every  Methodist.  And  the  more  so,  as  it  contains  the 
articles  of  religion,  maintained  more  or  less,  in  part, 
or  in  whole,  by  every  reformed  church  in  the  world. 
Far  from  wishing  you  to  be  ignorant  of  any  of  our 
doctrines,  or  any  part  of  our  discipline,  we  wish  you 
to  read,  mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest  the  whole. 
You  ought,  next  to  the  word  of  God,  to  procure  the 

26 


412  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES 

articles  and  canons  of  the  church  to  which  you  be 
long."  One  chapter  of  the  discipline  is  entitled  : 
"General  Rules  and  Reception  of  Members."  On  one 
page  this  is  found  : 

There  is  only  one  condition  previously  required  of 
those  who  desire  admission  into  these  societies  ;  a 
desire  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  and  to  be  saved 
from  their  sins. 

But  wherever  this  is  really  fixed  in  the  soul  it  will 
be  shown  by  its  fruits.  It  is,  therefore,  expected  of 
all  who  continue  therein  that  they  should  continue  to 
evidence  their  desire  for  salvation  ; 

First,  by  doing  no  harm,  by  avoiding  evil  of  every 
kind,  especially  that  which  is  most  generally  practiced  ; 
the  taking  of  the  name  of  God  in  vain  ;  the  profaning 
the  day  of  the  Lord  ;  drunkenness  ;  buying  or  selling 
spirituous  liquors,  or  drinking  them,  unless  in  cases  of 
extreme  necessity. 

And  then  the  next,  for  some  reason,  to  this  writer 
inexplicable,  is  printed  in  italics,  and  reads  thus  : 

The  buying  and  selling  of  men,  women  and  cJiildren 
with  an  intention  to  enslave  them. 

There  are  many  more  of  these  requirements  of 
larger  or  less  importance,  and  then  the  section  closes 
thus  : 

If  there  be  any  among  us  who  observe  not  these 
rules,  who  habitually  break  any  of  them,  let  it  be 
known  unto  them  who  watch  over  that  soul,  as  they 
who  must  give  account.  We  will  admonish  him  of  the 
error  of  his  ways.  We  will  bear  with  him  for  a  season. 
I>ut  if  then  he  repent  not,  he  hath  no  more  place 
among  us.  We  have  delivered  our  own  souls. 

So  much  for  text.  Now  for  commentary.  In  less 
than  half  a  century  from  the  enactment  of  that  mag 
nificent  rule  and  testimony  against  slavery,  against 
"the  buying  and  selling  of  men,  women  and  children, 
with  intention  to  enslave  them,"  printed  in  the  disci 
pline  in  italics,  from  the  first,  the  slaves  of  Methodist, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  413 

ministers,  elders  and  deacons  holding  them  with  the 
rest,  numbered  tens  of  thousands,  and  those  numbers 
rapidly  increasing  in  every  slave  state.  And  before 
the  Garrisonian  anti-slavery  agitation  was  seven  years 
old  that  stupendous  organization  in  general  confer 
ence,  convened  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  anno  domini  1836, 
by  vote  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  to  only  fourteen, 
solemnly  resolved  that  they  "are  decidedly  opposed  to 
modern  abolititionism,  and  wholly  disclaim  any  right, 
wish,  or  intention,  to  interfere  in  the  civil  and  politi 
cal  relation  between  master  and  slave,  as  it  exists  in 
the  slave-holding  states  of  this  Union." 

He  is  a  close  student  of  history  who  can  parallel  in 
brazen  audacity  and  effrontery  such  action  as  this.  By 
vote  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  to  fourteen,  on  motion 
of  Rev.  A.  J.  Few,  D.  D.,  of  Georgia,  the  conference 
solemnly  declared  they  had  "  no  wish  nor  intention  "  to 
fulfil  what  they  have  so  often  declared  to  the  world 
was  a  most  important  part  of  their  covenant  vows. 

One  of  the  rules  specified  in  the  section  of  rules  and 
requirements  reads  : 

"By  doing  good,  especially  to  them  that  are  of  the 
household  of  faith,  employing  them  preferably  to  oth 
ers,  helping  each  other  in  business,  and  so  much  the 
more  because  the  world  will  love  its  own,  and  them 
only.''  Now  observe  how  this  rule  was  respected.  In 
southern  and  some  northern  states,  colored  people 
were  never  allowed  to  testify  in  any  court  against  any 
white  person  in  any  case.  Any  outrage  on  any  colored 
woman  or  man  could  be  perpetrated  by  any  white 
ruffian  with  perfect  impunity,  were  none  but  colored 
witnesses  at  hand.  And  scenes  and  instances  of 
shocking  cruelty  went  ofttn  unpunished  on  that  ac 
count. 


414  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

And  now  behold  the  Methodist  General  Conference 
wrestling  with  a  problem  like  that.  There  were  at 
that  moment  more  than  eighty  thousand  colored 
Methodist  communicants,  and  Ohio  and  several  other 
non-slave-holding  states  enacted  them  all  as  unfit  to 
give  testimony  under  oath  in  any  court  of  justice  within 
their  jurisdiction.  They  might  do  for  Methodist 
churches,  might  even  be  fit  for  heaven,  but  they  were 
not  worthy  to  be  trusted  under  oath  to  speak  the 
truth. 

Now,  what  was  to  be  done  ?  The  conference  was 
equal  to  the  occasion.  In  1840,  in  general  conference 
assembled,  this  resolution  was  adopted,  and  become 
Methodist  law  : 

Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  and  unjustifiable 
for  any  preacher  to  permit  colored  persons  to  give  testi 
mony  against  white  persons,  in  any  state  where  they 
are  denied  that  privilege  by  law. 

So  ran  Methodist  brotherly  "  preference  "  toward 
their  "  own  household  of  faith,"  as  required  by  the 
"  rules  of  admission  to  fellowship."  The  state  pro 
nounced  colored  testimony  unfit  for  courts  of  civil 
law  and  justice  against  white  offenders,  no  matter  what 
the  crime.  And  the  Methodist  General  Conference, 
in  1840,  sanctified  the  impious  proscription  by  extend 
ing  it  over  their  own  church  trials,  as  well. 

Thus  they  unblushingly  confessed  to  man  and  God 
that  they  had  in  fellowship  over  eighty  thousand  mem 
bers,  redeemed  by  sacrificial  blood,  enrolled  in  the 
"Lamb's  Book  of  Life,"  as  they  believed  when  they 
baptised  and  received  them  ;  eighty  thousand  fit  to 
shine  and  reign  for  ever  and  ever  in  heaven,  and  yet 
not  worthy  to  testify  any  more  in  an  ecclesiastical 
court  held  before  their  own  sacramental  altar,  than  at 
any  civil  tribunal  !  While  the  veriest  blasphemer,  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  415 

vilest  profligate  who  ever  scoffed  at  the  mention  of 
religion,  if  covered  with  a  white  skin,  even  though 
purpled  with  drunkenness  and  debauchery,  might  be 
legal  and  competent  testimony  in  both,  to  any  extent, 
whatever  the  crime.  In.  view  of  a  proceed  ing  so  mon 
strous,  an  eloquent  writer  of  the  time  thus  justly  per 
tinently  said  : 

By  this  rule,  which  is  now  a  part  of  the  discipline  of 
the  church,  eighty  thousand  of  its  colored  members 
are  denied  the  right  to  testify  against  a  white  brother 
or  sister  in  any  case  whatsoever.  No  matter  what  the 
crime  may  be,  or  how  aggravating  the  circumstances. 
The  reverend  mover  of  the  resolution  might  now  vio 
late  the  chastity  of  the  colored  members  of  his  church 
with  entire  impunity.  He  is  no  longer  in  any  danger 
of  being  censured  and  silenced  by  his  more  fortunate 
brethren,  as  was  a  late  Massachusetts  doctor  of 
divinity.  Should  he  unfortunately  be  "  overtaken  in 
a  fault,"  the  church  has  "  provided  a  way  of  escape." 
And  an  ample  provision  it  is,  even  for  the  chief est  of 
sinners.  Neither  the  reverend  doctor,  nor  any  of  his 
coadjutors,  could  desire  greater  liberty — or  privilege, 
as  they  might  term  it.  The  lips  of  their  victim  and 
her  friends  are  now  hermetically  sealed  up,  both  in 
the  church  and  in  the  civil  tribunals  ! 

Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  the  eminent  Methodist  scripture 
•commentator,  says,  on  Ephesians  vi,  fifth :  "  In 
heathen  countries  slavery  had  some  sort  of  excuse. 
Among  Christians  it  is  a  crime  for  which  perdition  has 
scarce  adequate  punishment."  But  Dr.  Adam  Clarke 
had  hever  heard  nor  read  of  slavery  in  heathen  coun 
tries  more  horrible  than  the  slavery  thus  supported, 
sanctioned  and  sanctified  in  the  Methodist  church  ! 
What  would  he  have  said  to  this  resolution  of  Dr. 
Few  ?  Thrilling  protests  were  offered  against  it  in 
the  conference  but  to  no  purpose.  One  of  them  con 
tained  words  like  these  : 


416  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

The  adoption  of  such  a  resolution  has  inflicted, 
as  we  fear,  an  irreparable  injury  upon  eighty  thousand 
souls,  for  whom  Christ  died.  Souls,  who  by  this  act 
of  your  body,  have  been  stripped  of  the  dignity  of 
Christians,  degraded  in  the  scale  of  humanity  and 
treated  as  criminals,  for  no  other  reason  than  the  color 
of  their  skin  ! 

The  protest,  which  was  wholly  in  the  tone  of  these 
pathetic  words,  was,  as  Judge  Birney  shows,  "handed 
to  the  bishops,  but  was  never  read  to  the  conference." 

Why  need  it  have  been  even  handed  to  the  bishops  ? 
One  had  already  declared,  ex-cathedra,  "  The  right  to 
hold  slaves  is  founded  on  this  rule  ;  all  things  what 
soever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye 
even  so  unto  them."  That  was  Bishop  Redding, 
whose  home  was  in  Lynn,  Massachusetts. 

And  the  "  pastoral  letter"  of  the  general  conference 
of  1836,  closed  its  solemn  exhortation  on  the  whole 
question  of  slavery  in  a  strain  like  this  : 

From  every  view  which  we  have  been  able  to  take, 
and  from  the  most  calm  and  dispassionate  survey  of 
the  whole  ground,  we  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  only  safe,  scriptural  and  prudent  way  for  us, 
both  as  ministers  and  people,  to  take  is,  wholly  to  re 
frain  from  this  agitating  subject. 

And  Bishop  Soule  had  declared,  "  I  have  never  yet 
advised  the  liberation  of  a  slave,  and  I  think  I  never 
shall." 

Rev.  Wilbur  Fisk,  D.  D.,  President  of  the  Wesleyan 
University  in  Connecticut,  declared  :  "the  relation  of 
master  and  slave  may,  and  does,  in  many  cases  exist 
under  such  circumstances  as  frees  the  master  from  the 
just  charge  and  guilt  of  immorality.  *  *  *  The 
New  Testament  enjoins  obedience  upon  the  slave  as 
an  obligation  due  to  a  present  rightful  authority." 

And  Moses  Stuart,  of  Andover  Theological  Semin 
ary,  had  published  a  tract,  to  prove  that  slavery  was 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  417 

not  in  itself  an  evil  ;  and  had  said  in  so  many  words, 
"slavery  may  exist  without  any  violation  of  the  Chris 
tian  faith."  And  it  was  in  view  of  American  slavery 
that  he  wrote.  And  Dr.  Fisk  endorsed  Stuart  thus  : 
"  This  doctrine  of  Professor  Stuart  will  stand,  because 
it  is  Bible  doctrine." 

But  the  impertinent  and  persistent  meddling  of  some 
ministers  and  many  of  the  laity  of  the  Methodist  body, 
in  time  had  its  disastrous  effect  ;  and  in  the  year  1843, 
a  sufficient  number  of  individual  ministers  and  separ 
ate  churches  had  withdrawn  from  conference  jurisdic 
tion,  to  warrant  a  new  Methodist  organization.     So  in 
May,    1843,    a    convention    was    held  in  Utica,  New 
York,  and  inaugurated    The    Wesleyan  Methodist  Con 
nection  of  America.     This  mightily  increased  the  agi 
tation   in  the  parent  body.     It  was  now  certain  that 
something   decisive  must  be  done,  that   had   not  yet 
even  been  contemplated.     The  next  year,   1844,  the 
general   conference  met  in  New  York,  where  it  was 
shown,  to  the  terror  of  the  most  pro-slavery,  that  one 
of  the   bishops  had,  by    recent    marriage,    become    a 
slave-holder  !     An  agony  of  strife  was  wakened  which 
lasted  day  after  day.     In  the  hope  of  appeasing  the 
opponents  of    slavery,  the  Baltimore    annual  confer 
ence  voted  with  them  on  a  censure  ;  but  not  expulsion 
from  church  nor  office.     The  censure  was  only  to  the 
extent  that  "  Bishop  Andrew  be  requested  to  suspend 
the    exercise    of   the    duties    of    his    office,  while    his 
impediment  should  exist,  but  that  his  name  may  stand 
in  the  hymn  book  and  book  of  discipline,  and  his  sal 
ary  be  continued,  just  as  in  the  past ! " 

Our  travelling  agents  were  constantly  disputed  by 
Methodists  as  to  the  conference  action  on  Bishop 
Andrew  as  a  slave-holder.  I  myself  had  meetings 
broken  up  by  mobs,  for  the  sole  offense  of  speaking 


41  8  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

the  truth,  and  only  the  truth,  on  that  most  remarkable 
proceeding  in  the  Methodist  general  conference. 
After  one  of  these  riotous  demonstrations,  I  pub 
lished  in  the  Liberator  of  January  28,  1848,  the  follow 
ing  letter,  which  readers  must  pardon  me  for  produc 
ing  here  : 

DEAR  FRIEND  GARRISON  —  A  short  time  since,  as  I 
was  addressing  a  large  assembly  on  the  connexion  of 
the  Methodist  church  with  slavery,  a  minister  of  that 
denomination  rose  up  and  charged  me  with  bearing 
false  witness,  and  added,  with  much  earnestness,  that 
the  church  had  even  deposed  one  of  its  bishops,  only  for 
marrying  a  lady  who  held  slaves.  A  similar  declaration 
has  been  often  made,  and  I  find  the  church  generally 
believes  it.  It  may  be  that  the  ministers  know  no 
better  ;  though  it  is  a  defense  of  the  ir  hearts  at  great 
cost  to  their  heads  to  suppose  it. 

I  have  before  me  the  official  proceedings  relative  to 
Bishop  Andrew,  in  the  general  conference  of  1844,  and 
will  give  a  few  very  brief  extracts.  They  were  pub 
lished  by  the  church  at  the  conference  office  in  New 
York. 

After  the  subject  had  been  many  days  under  dis 
cussion,  and  no  prospect  of  an  adjournment  had 
appeared,  the  four  bishops,  beside  Andrew,  issued  an 
address  to  the  conference,  in  which  they  say,  (page 


At  this  painful  crisis,  we  have  unanimously  con 
curred  in  the  propriety  of  recommending  the  postpone 
ment  of  further  action  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew, 
until  the  ensuing  conference. 

It  was  not  done,  however,  and  the  discussion  pro 
ceeded.  At  length,  the  following  resolution  was 
passed,  as  the  sense  of  the  conference,  (pp  191-2)  — 

Whereas,  the  discipline  of  our  church  forbids  the 
doing  of  any  thing,  calculated  to  destroy  our  itinerant 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  419 

general  superintendency;  and  whereas,  Bishop  Andrew 
has  become  connected  with  slavery,  by  marriage  and 
otherwise,  and  this  act  having  drawn  after  it  circum 
stances,  which,  in  the  estimation  of  the  general  con 
ference,  will  greatly  embarrass  the  exercise  of  his 
office  as  an  itinerant  general  superintendent,  if  not  in 
some  places  entirely  prevent  it ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  general  confer 
ence,  that  he  desist  from  the  exercise  of  this  office,  so 
long  as  this  impediment  remains  ! 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  taken,  and  the  resolution 
was  adopted,  1 1 1  to  69. 

After  some  further  discussion,  the  bishops  issued  an 
other  address  to  the  conference,  proposing  the  three 
following  questions — p.  214  of  records: 

First — Shall  Bishop  Andrew's  name  remain,  as  it 
now  stands  in  the  minutes,  hymn-book  and  discipline, 
or  shall  it  be  struck  off  of  those  official  records? 

Second — How  shall  the  bishop  obtain  his  support  ? 
As  provided  for  in  the  discipline,  or  in  some  other  way  ? 

Third — What  work,  if  any,  may  the  bishop  perform? 
and  how  shall  he  be  appointed  to  that  work  ? 

It  was  moved  to  refer  the  question  to  a  committee 
of  three,  but  the  motion  was  afterwards  withdrawn. 

The  following,  from  page  216  of  the  Record  of 
Proceedings,  tells  the  rest  : 

Mr.  Mitchell  proposed  the  following  resolutions,  in 
reply  to  the  inquiries  of  the  bishops  : 

Resolved,  First,  as  the  sense  of  this  conference,  that 
Bishop  Andrew's  name  stand  in  the  minutes,  hymn- 
book  and  discipline,  as  formerly. 

Resolved,  Second,  that  the  rule  in  relation  to  the 
support  of  a  bishop  and  his  family,  applies  to  Bishop 
Andrew. 

Resolved,  Third,  that  whether  any,  and  in  what 
work  Bishop  Andrew  be  employed,  is  to  be  determined 
by  his  own  decision  and  action,  in  relation  to  the  pre 
vious  action  of  this  conference  in  his  case. 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

The  ayes  and  noes  were  called  on  the  first  resolu 
tion.  For  it,  154  ;  against  it,  18  For  the  second 
resolution,  ayes  141,  noes  14. 


420  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

Dr.  Winans  said  he  should  go  against  the'third  res 
olution.  The  discipline  of  the  church  knew  no  dis 
cretion  in  an  officer  of  recognized  standing,  to  with 
draw  himself  from  the  duties  of  his  office.  By  the 
two  votes  just  passed,  it  was  clear  and  unequivocal, 
that  Bishop  Andrew  had  an  unquestioned  standing  as 
a  bishop  of  the  M.  E.  church,  by  a  vote  of  a  large 
majority  of  that  church,  and  the  provisions  of  the  dis 
cipline  ;  and  he  congratulated  the  south  on  the  fact 
that  they  had  now  a  recognized  slave-holding  bishop, 
whose  name  appeared  on  all  their  records,  after  being 
known  as  a  slave-holder,  and  that  Bishop  A.  has  no 
right  to  elect,  whether  he  would  serve,  or  in  what  way 
he  would  serve. 

Mr.  Cartwright  thought  his  brother  Winans  shouted 
before  he  was  happy. 

Mr.  Winans — I  was  happy. 

Dr.  Cartwright — Yes  ;  but  the  brother  was  only 
happy  in  the  false  fires  of  his  own  warm  imagination. 

The  ayes  and  noes  were  then  taken  on  the  third 
resolution.  Several  asked  to  be  excused,  some  retired  ; 
and  the  result  of  the  vote  was,  ayes  103,  noes  67. 

Such,  then,  was  the  expulsion  of  Bishop  Andrew. 
A  subsequent  report  of  the  conference,  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  .116  to  26,  declares  on  page  232  : 

The  action  of  the  general  conference  was  neither 
judicial  nor  punitive.  //  neither  achieves  nor  intends  a 
deposition — nor  so  much  as  a  legal  suspension!  Bishop 
Andrew  is  still  a  bishop  ;  and  should  he,  against  the 
expressed  sense  of  the  general  conference,  proceed  to 
the  discharge  of  his  functions,  his  official  act  would  be 
valid! 

And  yet  the  Methodist  clergy  tell  the  people,  and 
make  them  believe  it,  and  have  often  done  it  in  my 
meetings,  that  Bishop  Andrew  was  expelled  as  a 
bishop,  for  the  crime  of  owning  slaves. 

Yours,  to  expose  such  lies  and  hypocrisy, 

PARKER  PILLSBURY. 

Slavery  was  sometimes  called  "the  peculiar  institu 
tion  ;"  the  "patriarchal  institution."  An  old  cotton 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  421 

king,  of  Boston,  visiting  the  south,  talked  softly  to 
slave-holders  about  their  "unenlightened  labor." 
But  it  remained  for  the  general  conference  of  the 
Methodist-Episcopal  church  to  refine  on  that,  putting 
it  in  one  single  word,  and  that  a  less  offensive  word, 
than  labor  and  unenlightened  labor,  too.  Slave-holding 
in  Bishop  Andrew  was  but  an  impediment !  and  not 
serious,  at  that,  as  it  neither  deprived  him  of  the  hon 
ors,  nor  emoluments  of  his  office  ;  only  relieved  him 
from  its  labors  and  responsibilities. 

But  the  southern  Methodists  were  no  more  happy 
than  before.  Nothing  short  of  the  terrible  penalty 
inflicted  on  Bishop  Andrew,  would  placate  the  north, 
and  that  with  the  south  seemed  only  to  complicate 
matters  more  and  more.  Division,  disruption, 
threatened — last  year,  six  or  seven  thousand  church 
members  and  nearly  a  hundred  ministers,  had  seceded 
and  formed  the  Weslyan  Connection  of  America,  all 
in  the  good  name  of  anti-slavery.  So  that  was  never 
part  of  the  general  conference.  It  was  now  the  slave 
holder's  turn.  Nor  did  they  hesitate.  The  south  se 
ceded,  and  from  that  day  (1844),  onward  to  and 
through  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  there  were  both  a 
southern  and  northern  general  conference. 

But  the  new  Utica  movement  found  no  place  in 
either,  neither  desired  it.  And  so  there  seemed  more 
need  of  it  than  ever.  And  yet,  from  the  day  of  the 
separation,  many  in  the  northern  conference,  minis 
ters  and  people,  proudly  plumed  themselves  as  a 
strictly  anti-slavery  church,  that  had  shaken  off  the 
pollutions  of  slavery. 

But  two  stern  denials  must  be  made  of  any  such 
virtue.  The  northern  conference  never  left  the  south 
ern,  still  less  excommunicated  it.  The  south  aban 
doned  the  north  in  part,  only  in  part,  for  the  sake  of 


422  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

peace,  not  the  north  for  the  sake  of  purity.  But  both 
were  disappointed.  The  south  found  no  peace,  the 
north  surely  purchased  no  purity,  as  most  stubborn 
facts  more  than  prove.  This  history  is  only  written, 
not  made  ;  and  the  testimony  is  all  furnished  by  the 
parties  most  concerned  themselves. 

The  following  extract  from  the  proceedings  of  the 
first  meeting  of  the  southern  general  conference, 
shows  how  far  there  had  been  any  change  of  heart  on 
either  side,  as  concerning  the  sin  which  John  Wesley 
had  designated  as  "  the  sum  of  all  villainies,"  and 
Dr.  Clark  had  declared,  "  Perdition  had  scarcely  ad 
equate  punishment,"  for  such  as  logically  proved  them 
selves  the  sum  of  all  villains.  But  here  is  the  extract  : 

After  the  formal  adjournment  on  Monday,  Bishop 
Soule  requested  the  members  to  tarry  a  few  minutes, 
Dr.  Winans  then  read  an  expression  of  his  feelings 
and  that  of  many  of  his  brethren,  who  had  passed 
through  the  bounds  of  a  portion  of  the  "northern 
church,"  for  the  very  kind  and  affectionate  treatment 
they  had  received  from  their  northern  brethren  on 
their  way  to  this  city.  It  expresses  the  hope  that, 
although  a  separation  has  taken  place,  whenever  a 
southern  brother,  in  the  providence  of  God,  shall  be 
called  to  visit  a  northern  city,  or  place,  where  there  is 
a  Methodist  pulpit,  he  may  find  it  open  to  his  ministry, 
and  assuring  the  northern  brethren  that  the  like  Chris 
tian  courtesy  shall  be  always  extended  to  them.  The 
document  was  unanimously  adopted  and  ordered  to 
be  signed  by  a  committee  of  the  conference. 

And  why  should  it  not  be  ?  for  the  very  next  year 
but  one,  we  find  one  of  the  largest  annual  conferences, 
the  Baltimore,  of  the  north,  adopting  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  this  conference  disclaims  having  any 
fellowship  with  abolitionism.  On  the  contrary,  while 
it  is  determined  to  maintain  its  well-known  and  long- 
established  position,  by  keeping  the  traveling  preach 
ers  composing  its  own  body,  free  from  slavery,  it  is  also 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  423 

determined  not  to  hold  connection  with  any  ecclesias 
tical  body  that  shall  make  non-slaveholding  a  condi 
tion  of  membership  in  the  church  ;  but  to  stand  by 
and  maintain  the  discipline  as  it  is. 

And  now  for  the  one  overpowering  fact  of  all  ;  a 
fact  which  for  years  after  the  separation  of  1844,  con 
victed  multitudes  of  Methodists,  ministers  with  the 
rest,  of  an  ignorance  the  most  remarkable,  or-hypoc- 
risy  and  falsehood  the  most  fearful  ever  known  in  all 
the  annals  of  human  weakness  or  wickedness. 

Not  only  did  not  the  northern  hemisphere  of  the  con 
ference  sunder  itself  from  the  southern  to  rid  itself  of 
the  sin  and  guilt  of  slavery,  but  instead,  when  the  south 
withdrew,  the  north  contrived  to  retain  seven  or  eight 
Annual  conferences  whose  territory  was  mainly  or  wholly 
in  the  slave  states  in  which  dwelt  four  thousand  Method 
ist  slave-holders,  owning  more  than  twenty- five  thousand 
slaves  ! 

And  that  was  a  body  to  set  itself  before  men, 
angels  and  God  as  an  anti-slavery  church.  Every 
where,  in  New  England  and  New  York,  as  well  as  at  the 
west,  the  anti-slavery  agents  encountered  that 
astounding  boast  *anci  pretension  among  the  Method 
ists,  both  ministers  and  people. 

I  could  not  myself  believe,  till  I  went  to  the  Meth 
odist  book  concern  in  Boston,  and  purchased  the 
book  of  discipline,  now  on  my  desk,  and  read  the 
boundaries  of  those  annual  conferences,  with  my  own 
eyes.  "Border  territory"  it  is  called  in  the  official 
records  of  that  time,  but  it  included  Delaware,  most, 
or  all  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  the  whole  of  Ken 
tucky,  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Texas. 

To  the  resolution  of  the  Baltimore  conference  just 
cited  to  show  what  northern  conference  anti-slavery 
was  worth  as  testimony  against  slave-holding  sin, 


424  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

shame  and  crime,  let  this  be  added,  and  the  argu 
ment  shall  close  :  the  extracts  are  from  the  "Address 
of  the  Philadelphia  annual  conference,  to  the 
societies  under  its  care,  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Northampton  and  Accomac  circuits." 

Whereas,  the  discipline  says,  "  Virginia  conference 
shall  be  bounded  on  the  east  by  Chesapeak  Bay  and 
the  Atlantic  Ocean;  "  and  "Philadelphia  conference 
shall  include  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland  and  Vir 
ginia  " — the  Chesapeake  Bay,  an  arm  of  the  ocean 
being  between  them  ;  therefore,  Resolved,  that  in  our 
administration,  we  will  regard  the  "eastern  shore  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  "  as  not  being  "  border  "  work 
in  the  sense  of  the  "  plan  of  separation." 

We  cannot,  therefore,  but  regard  all  the  Methodist 
societies  within  the  peninsula,  as  under  our  pastoral 
jurisdiction,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  plan  of 
separation. 

If  the  plan  of  separation  gives  us  the  pastoral  care 
of  you,  it  remains  to  inquire  whether  we  have  done 
anything  as  a  conference,  or  as  men,  to  forfeit  your 
confidence  and  affection.  We  are  not  advised  that 
even  in  the  great  excitement  which  has  distressed  you 
for  some  months  past,  any  one  has  impeached  our 
moral  conduct,  or  charged  us  with  unsoundness  in 
doctrine,  or  corruption,  or  tyranny  in  the  administra 
tion  of  discipline.  But  we  learn  that  the  simple  cause 
of  the  unhappy  excitement  among  you  is,  that  some 
suspect  us,  or  affect  to  suspect  us,  of  being  abolition 
ists.  Yet,  no  particular  act  of  the  conference,  or  any 
particular  member  thereof,  is  adduced,  as  the  ground 
of  the  erroneous  and  injurious  suspicion.  We  would 
ask  you,  brethren,  whether  the  conduct  of  our  minis 
try  among  you  for  sixty  years  past,  ought  not  to  be 
sufficient  to  protect  us  from  this  charge?  Whether 
the  question  we  have  been  accustomed  for  a  few  years 
past,  to  put  to  candidates  for  admission  among  us, 
namely,  are  you  an  abolitionist?  and  without  each  one 
answered  in  the  negative,  he  was  not  received,  ought 
not  to  protect  us  from  the  charge.  Whether  the 
action  of  the  last  conference  on  this  particular  matter, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  425 

ought  not  to  satisfy  any  fair  and  candid  mind  that  we 
are  not,  and  do  not  desire  to  be,  abolitionists.  *  * 
*  *  We  cannot  see  how  we  can  be  regarded  as 
abolitionists  without  the  ministers  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  south,  being  considered  in  the  same 
light.  *  *  * 

Wishing  you  all  heavenly  benedictions,  we  are,  dear 
brethren,  yours,  in  Christ  Jesus, 

J.   P.   DURBIN, 
J.   KENNADAY, 
IGNATIUS  T.  COOPER, 
WILLIAM  H.  GILDER, 
JOSEPH  CASTLE, 

Committee. 

Wilmington,  Del.,  April  7,  1847. 

Such  was  American  Methodism  in  1836,  and  onward 
to  1847,  and  the  Philadelphia  conference  of  that  year. 
Such  was  Methodism  as  held,  represented,  inculcated 
by  the  bishops,  elders,  and  rulers  in  the  high  places 
of  power  in  that  immense  spiritual  dominion,  alike  in 
the  northern  and  the  southern  states. 

But  such  was  not  Methodism  in  the  day,  nor  in  the 
mouth  of  John  Wesley. 

On  February  twelfth,  1772,  he  wrote  in  his  Jour 
nal  :  I  read  a  book  of  an  honest  Quaker  on  that  exe 
crable  sum  of  all  villanics,  called  the  slave  trade  ;  I 
read  nothing  like  it  in  the  heathen  world,  whether 
ancient  or  modern  ;  it  infinitely  exceeds  in  every 
instance  of  barbarity,  whatever  Christian  slaves  suffer 
in  Mohamedan  countries." 

And  a  word  more  from  the  same  hand,  shall  close 
this  too  extended  chapter  on  Methodism  and  slavery. 
He  wrote  :  "What  I  have  said  to  slave-traders,  equally 
concerns  all  slave-holders,  of  whatever  degree  or  rank. 
The  blood  of  your  brother  crieth  against  you  from  the 
earth.  O,  whatever  it  costs,  put  a  stop  to  that  cry  ! 
Your  hands,  beds,  houses,  lands,  furniture,  are  stained 
with  blood.  Surely  it  is  enough  ! 


426  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

THE    PROTESTANT    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

The  anti-slavery  character  of  this  ^denomination  is 
pretty  clearly  set  forth  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled, 
"  Thoughts  on  the  duty  of  the  Episcopal  church  in 
relation  to  slavery,"  by  the  late  William  Jay,  one  of 
its  most  illustrious  members  : 

Alas  !  for  the  expectation  that  she  would  conform 
to  the  spirit  of  her  ancient  mother.  She  has  not  only 
remained  a  mute  and  careless  spectator  of  this  great 
conflict  of  truth  and  justice  with  hypocrisy  and 
cruelty,  but  her  very  priests  and  deacons  may  be  seen 
ministering  at  the  altar  of  slavery  !  Offering  their 
talents  and  influence  at  its  unholy  shrine,  and  openly 
repeating  the  awful  blasphemy  that  the  precepts  of 
our  Savior  sanction  the  system  of  American  slavery  1 
Her  northern,  free-state  clergy,  with  rare  exceptions, 
whatever  they  may  feel  on  the  subiect,  rebuke  it 
neither  in  public  nor  in  private.  And  her  periodicals, 
far  from  advancing  the  progress  of  abolitionism,  at 
times  oppose  our  societies  ;  impliedly  defending 
slavery,  as  not  incompatible  with  Christianity,  and,  oc 
casionally  withholding  information  useful  to  the  cause 
of  freedom. 

As  why  should  they  not,  or,  rather,  it  might  be 
asked,  how  could  they  have  done  otherwise  ?  pulpit, 
or  press,  with  instructions  like  the  following,  issued 
by  the  oldest  bishop  in  the  United  States,  for  their  in 
struction  and  guidance,  though  directed,  as  will  be 
seen,  to  a  far  more  august  dignitary  than  the  bishop 
himself : 

JUBILEE  COLLEGE,  ILLINOIS,  N.  A.,  ) 
August  i,  A.  D.  1846.        j 
To  the  Right  Rev.   Samuel,  Lord  Bishop   of   Oxford, 

England  : 

VERY  DEAR  BROTHER  IN  THE  LORD  JESUS — Allow 
me,  the  oldest  bishop  of  the  "  Protestant  Episcopal 
church  "  in  the  United  States,  to  address  your  lord 
ship  on  the  subject  of  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "A  Re- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  427 

proof  of  the  American  Church,"  which  "reproof"  is 
said  to  be  contained  in  copious  "extracts"  from  your 
lordship's  lately  published  history  of  said  church. 

Never  having  read  this  work  from  which  the  said 
"reproof"  is  drawn,  yet  from  many  years'  acquaint 
ance  with  your  lordship's  excellent  character,  I  can 
say,  with  full  confidence,  that  the  acerbity  which  is 
spread  over  the  pages  of  this  pamphlet  cannot  be  ap 
proved  by  your  lordship.  *  *  * 

In  the  deepest  sorrow  of  heart  do  I  lament  the  mel 
ancholy  effects  produced  by  the  circumstances  before 
me.  Alas  !  what  do  I  see  ?  The  bishops  and  clergy 
of  America  censured  for  that  of  which  they  are  not 
guilty,  and  of  which  they  are  not  the  cause,  and  those 
who  censure  them  evidently  unconscious  both  of  the 
evils  which  their  mistaken  censure  produces,  and  of 
the  extent  of  the  evils  which  must  follow  from  the 
weight  of  their  character  and  opinion. 

Before  I  proceed,  I  beg  leave  to  state,  that,  in  en 
deavoring,  by  mv  feeble  means,  to  shield  the  Prot 
estant  Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States,  I  crave 
to  be  understood  as  not  assuming  political  ground. 
The  Episcopal  church  in  America  did  in  no  wise  orig 
inate  slavery.  She  always,  in  connection  with  other 
benevolent  persons  of  the  day,  raised  her  voice  against 
its  introduction  into  the  then  British  colonies.  Nor  is 
she  now,  in  any  competent  sense,  a  part  of  the  civil 
government  to  cure  its  temporal  evils.  Her  bishops 
are  not,  as  the  English  prelates  are,  admitted  to  a  seat 
in  the  halls  of  legislation,  nor  are  they  allowed  to 
"  rise  in  their  places  "  to  plead  the  cause  of  humanity. 
All  she  can  do  is  by  her  prayers  and  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel,  and  teaching  the  blessed  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  to  endeavor  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  the  slave  ;  but,  like  the  primitive  Christians, 
amidst  the  evils  that  surround  her,  she  does  not  think 
herself  called  upon  to  eradicate  at  once  the  evil.  She 
rather  finds  herself  commanded,  as  were  the  servants 
in  the  gospel,  to  exercise  caution,  "  lest  in  eradicating 
the  tares,  they  root  out  the  wheat  also."  Let  both 
grow  together,  saith  our  Lord.  Let  the  evil  be  borne 
for  the  sake  of  the  good  that  may  be  done  to  the  souls 

of  the  poor  slaves. 

27 


428  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

The  tenor  of  these  remarks  falls  in  with  the  exam 
ple  of  St.  Paul.  The  gospel  through  his  mouth  and 
the  power  of  the  divine  Spirit  had  converted  the  noble 
Philemon  from  the  slavery  of  sin  to  the  freedom  of 
the  Son  of  God.  This  Philemon's  "  runaway  slave" 
enjoyed  the  same  benefit  at  the  hands  of  the  same 
apostle,  some  time  after,  while  a  prisoner  in  the  city 
of  Rome.  His  name  was  Onesimus,  and  while  minis 
tering  to  the  necessities  of  the  holy  apostle,  he  heard 
the  word  of  God,  and  like  his  master,  believed.  It  now 
becomes  a  matter  of  great  importance,  in  relation  to 
the  subject  of  this  letter,  to  know  what  directions  the 
apostle  gave  to  the  converted  slave  of  Philemon,  when 
he  sent  him  back  to  his  master.  Was  it  that  he  was  a 
freeman  in  the  temporal  sense,  and  must  maintain  his 
rights  as  a  part  of  "  a  whole  gospel,"  Was  it  that  as 
a  freeman  he  was  to  go  back  and  claim  the  privileges 
and  immunities  of  this  his  temporal  freedom,  as  it  is 
now  understood  by  the  abolitionists  ?  Was  it  that 
henceforth  he  was  to  consider  himself  as  having  a  right 
to  propogate  his  sentiments  and  "  preach  the  whole 
gospel  ?  That  is  to  say  that  he  had  a  right  to  creep  into 
his  former  master's  kitchen  and  fill  the  heads  of  all  the 
bond  servants  with  the  ideas  of  their  temporal  rights 
according  to  this  creed,  thereby  exciting  them  to  rebel 
lion,  and  if  resisted,  (and  resisted  they  certainly  would 
be)  to  murder  their  kind  master  and  take  possession 
of  his  estate. 

Far,  very  far,  from  so  wicked  an  estimate  of  the 
holy  religion  unto  the  blessings  and  privileges  of  which 
the  apostle  had  admitted  him,  this  now  converted  ser 
vant  of  the  pious  Philemon,  that  he  sent  the  former 
immediately  back  to  serve  the  latter  as  heretofore.  Not 
a  word  of  abolitionism  was  uttered  in  the  presence  of 
Onesimus,  or  intimated  by  the  apostle.  He  entreats 
Philemon  to  receive  his  servant  back  again  as  a  brother 
beloved  of  Christ,  though  still  a  servant,  and  as  such, 
if  required,  engages  to  pay  the  losses  he  had  occasioned 
his  master  by  his  leaving  him.  "  If  he  hath  wronged 
thee  aught,  put  that  to  my  account,  I  Paul  have  writ 
ten  it  with  my  own  hand,  I  will  repay  it."  How  dif 
ferent  this  from  the  language  of  modern  abolitionism. 
Yet  this,  my  Lord,  is  a  part  of  our  Holy  Bible. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  429 

Hence  it  is  clearly  to  be  inferred  that  the  relations 
of  political  society  are  to  continue,  be  they  what  they 
may,  notwithstanding  the  most  intimate  ties  of  Chris 
tian  fellowship. 

Here  is  another  singularly  illustrative  act,  furnished, 
too,  as  is  all  the  testimony  introduced  by  the  church 
herself.  In  1836,  Rev.  George  W.  Freeman  delivered 
two  sermons  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  that  were 
published  under  the  imposing  title  of  "  The  Rights 
and  Duties  of  Slave-holders,"  with  the  following  im 
primatur  from  Bishop  Ives,  of  the  diocese  : 

RALEIGH,  Nov.  30,  1836. 

REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER — I  listened  with  most  un 
feigned  pleasure  to  the  discourses  delivered  last  Sunday, 
on  the  character  ot  slavery  and  the  duties  of  masters 
And  as  I  learn  a  publication  of  them  is  solicited,  I  beg, 
from  a  conviction  of  their  being  urgently  called  for  at 
the  present  time,  that  you  will  not  withhold  your  con 
sent. 

Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother  in  the  Lord, 

L.  S.  IVES. 

In  South  Carolina,  the  "  Society  for  the  Advance 
ment  of  Christianity,"  made  up  of  clergymen  and  lay 
men,  the  bishop  at  the  head  of  it,  seized  upon  the  ser 
mons,  imprimatur  and  all,  and  published  them  as  re 
ligious  tracts,  for  gratuitous  distribution. 

An  extract  from  the  sermons  read  thus  :  "  No  man, 
or  set  of  men  in  our  day,  unless  they  can  produce  a 
new  revelation  from  heaven,  are  entitled  to  prouounce 
slavery  wrong.  *  Slavery,  as  its  exists  at  the 

present  day,  is  agreeable  to  the  order  of  Divine  Provi 
dence." 

And  now  one  more  witness,  perhaps  most  valuable 
of  all,  and  a  late  bishop,  too.  On  my  table  is  a  work 
with  this  imposing  title  : 

Sermons  addressed  to  masters  and  servants,  and  pub 
lished  in  the  year  1743,  by  Rev.  Thomas  Bacon,  minister. 


430  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland,  now 
republished  with  other  tracts  and  dialogues  on  the  same 
subject,  and  recommended  to  all  masters  and  mistresses 
to  be  used  in  their  families.  By  the  Reverend  William 
Meade.  Winchester,  Virginia.  John  Heiskell, printer. 

In  his  preface,  Bishop  Meade  remarks  :  "The  edi 
tor  of  this  volume  offers  it  to  all  masters  and  mistresses 
in  our  southern  states,  with  the  anxious  wish  and 
devout  prayer  that  it  may  prove  a  blessing  to  them 
selves  and  their  households.  He  considers  himself 
most  happy  in  having  met  with  the  several  pieces- 
which  compose  it,  and  could  not  with  a  quiet  con 
science  refrain  from  affording  to  others  the  opportunity 
of  profiting  thereby." 

The  title  of  this  work  shows  its  miscellaneous  char 
acter.  The  sermons  are  in  two  series,  the  first,  doubt 
less,  by  Mr.  Bacon  published  in  1743.  Then  succeed 
two  others,  author  not  named,  but  presumably  by 
Bishop  Meade  himself,  and  always  so  assigned  while 
he  lived.  And  from  them  the  following  excerpts  are 
taken.  He  first  shows  that  God  appointed,  for  great 
and  wonderful  ends,  several  offices  and  degrees  in  his 
family,  making  some  masters  and  mistresses,  some 
kings  and  rules,  some  merchants  and  sea-faring  men, 
some  tradesmen,  husbandmen  and  planters  and  labor 
ing  men  to  work  for  their  own  living,  and  some  He 
hath  made  servants  and  slaves  to  assist  and  work  for 
their  masters  and  mistresses  who  provide  for  them. 
And  as  God  hath  sent  each  of  us  into  the  world  for 
some  or  other  of  these  purposes,  we  are  all  obliged, 
from  the  king  to  the  poorest  slave,  to  do  the  business 
He  hath  set  us  about.  And  while  you  whom  He  hath 
made  slaves  are  honestly  and  quietly  doing  your  busi 
ness  and  living  as  poor  Christians  ought  to  live,  you 
are  serving  God  in  your  low  station  as  much  as  the 
greatest  prince  alive. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  431 

With  more  in  the  same  strain,  but  not  one  duty 
specified,  not  one  grace,  not  one  emotion  nor  aspiration 
that  rises  above,  or  relates  to  any  power  or  person, 
only  the  master  and  mistress  and  their  service  and 
adoration,  as  what  follows,  in  the  recent  bishop's  own 
words,  abundantly  shows  : 

When  people  die,  we  know  of  but  two  places  they 
have  to  go  to,  and  one  is  heaven,  the  other  hell.  Now 
heaven  is  a  place  of  great  happiness,  which  God  hath 
prepared  for  all  that  are  good,  where  they  shall  enjoy 
rest  from  their  labors.  And  hell  is  a  place  of  great 
torment  and  misery,  where  all  wicked  people  will 
be  shut  up  with  the  devil  and  other  evil  spirits,  and  be 
punished  forever,  because  they  will  not  serve  God. 
If,  therefore,  we  would  have  our  souls  saved  by 
Christ,  if  we  would  escape  hell  and  obtain  heaven,  we 
must  set  about  doing  what  he  requires  of  us,  that  is, 
to  serve  God.  Your  own  poor  circumstances  in  this 
life  ought  to  put  jiw/  particularly  upon  this,  and  taking 
care  of  your  souls.  *  *  Almighty  God  hath 
been  pleased  to  make  you  slaves  here,  and  to  give  you 
nothing  but  labor  and  poverty  in  this  world,  which 
you  are  obliged  to  submit  to,  as  it  is  his  will  that  it 
should  be  so.  And  think  within  yourselves  what  a 
terrible  thing  it  would  be,  after  all  your  labors  and 
sufferings  in  this  life,  to  be  turned  into  hell  in  the 
next  life  ;  and  after  wearing  out  your  bodies  in  service 
here,  to  go  into  a  far  worse  slavery  when  this  is  over, 
and  your  poor  souls  be  delivered  over  into  the  posses 
sion  of  the  devil,  to  become  his  slaves  forever  in  hell, 
without  any  hope  of  ever  getting  free  from  it.  If, 
therefore,  you  would  be  God's  freemen  in  heaven,  you 
must  strive  to  be  good  and  serve  him  here  on  earth. 
Your  bodies,  you  know,  are  not  your  own  ;  they  are  at 
the  disposal  of  those  you  belong  to  ;  but  your  precious 
souls  are  still  your  own,  which  nothing  can  take  from 
you,  if  it  be  not  your  own  fault.  Consider  well,  then, 
that  if  you  lose  your  souls  by  leading  idle,  wicked 
lives  here,  you  have  got  nothing  by  it  in  this  world, 
and  you  have  lost  your  all  in  the  next.  For  your  idle 
ness  and  wickedness  are  generally  found  out,  and  your 


432  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

bodies  suffer  for  it  here  ;  and  what  is  far  worse,  if  you 
do  not  repent  and  amend,  your  unhappy  souls  will 
suffer  for  it  hereafter. 

Having  thus  shown  you  the  chief  duties  you  owe  to 
your  great  master  in  heaven,  I  now  come  to  lay  before 
you  the  duties  you  owe  to  vour  masters  and  mistresses 
here  upon  earth.  And  for  this  you  have  one  general 
rule,  that  you  ought  always  to  carry  in  your  minds, 
and  that  is,  to  do  all  service  for  them,  as  if  you  did  it  for 
God  himself.  Poor  creatures  !  you  little  consider 
when  you  are  idle  and  neglectful  of  your  master's 
business,  when  you  steal  and  waste,  and  hurt  any  of 
their  substance,  when  you  are  saucy  and  impudent, 
when  you  are  telling  them  lies  and  deceiving  them,  or 
when  you  prove  stubborn  and  sullen,  and  will  not  do 
the  work  you  are  set  about  without  stripes  and  vex 
ation,  you  do  not  consider,  I  say,  that  what  faults  you 
are  guilty  of  toward  your  masters  and  mistresses,  are 
faults  done  against  God  himself,  who  hath  set  your 
masters  and  mistresses  over  you  in  his  own  stead,  and 
expects  that  you  will  do  for  them  just  what  you  would 
do  for  him.  Pray,  do  not  think  I  want  to  deceive  you, 
when  I  tell  you  that  your  masters  and  mistresses  are 
God's  overseers,  and  that  if  you  are  faulty  towards 
them,  God  himself  will  punish  you  severely  for  it  in 
the  next  world,  unless  you  repent.  You 

are  to  be  obedient  and  subject  to  your  masters  in  all 
things.  And  Christian  ministers  are  commanded  to 
exhort  servants  to  be  obedient  unto  their  own  masters 
and  to  please  them  well  in  all  things.  You  are  to  be 
faithful  and  honest  to  your  masters  and  mistresses  ; 
not  purloining  nor  wasting  their  goods  and  substance, 
but  showing  all  good  fidelity  in  all  things.  Do  not  your 
masters,  under  God,  provide  for  you  ?  And  how  shall 
they  be  able  to  do  this,  to  feed  and  to  clothe  you,  un 
less  you  take  honest  care  of  everything  that  belongs 
to  them  ?  Remember,  God  requires  this  of  you  ;  and 
if  you  are  not  afraid  of  suffering  for  it  in  this  world, 
you  cannot  escape  the  vengeance  of  Almighty  God. 

Turning  now  to  the  next  sermon,  page  116  of  the 
volume,  the  bishop  expounds,  reasons,  and  argues  to 
this  effect  : 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  433 

"All  things  whatsoever  ye  would,  that  men  should  do 
unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them  ;  "  that  is,  do  by  all 
mankind  just  as  you  would  desire  they  should  do  by 
you,  if  you  were  in  their  place,  and  they  in  yours. 

Now,  to  suit  this  rule  to  your  particular  circum 
stances  ;  suppose  you  were  masters  and  mistresses, 
and  had  servants  under  you,  would  you  not  desire 
that  your  servants  should  do  their  business  faithfully 
and  honestly,  as  well  when  your  back  was  turned  as 
while  you  were  looking  over  them  ?  Would  you  not 
expect  that  they  should  take  notice  of  what  you  said 
to  them  ?  That  they  should  behave  themselves  with 
respect  towards  you  and  yours,  and  be  as  careful  of 
every  thing  belonging  to  you  as  you  would  be  your 
selves  ?  You  are  servants,  do,  therefore,  as  you  would 
wish  to  be  done  by,  and  you  will  be  both  good  servants 
to  your  masters,  and  good  servants  to  God,  who  requires 
this  of  you,  and  will  reward  you  well  for  it,  if  you  do 
it  for  the  sake  of  conscience,  in  obedience  to  his  com 
mands.  *  *  *  Take  care  that  you  do  not  fret,  or 
murmur,  or  grumble  at  your  condition  ;  for  this  will 
not  only  make  your  life  uneasy,  but  will  greatly  offend 
Almighty  God.  Consider  that  it  is  not  yourselves,  it 
is  not  the  people  you  belong  to,  it  is  not  the  men  that 
have  brought  you  to  it,  but  it  is  the  will  of  God,  who 
hath  by  his  providence  made  you  servants,  because, 
no  doubt  he  knew  that  condition  would  be  best  for 
you  in  this  world,  and  help  you  the  better  towards 
heaven,  if  you  would  but  do  your  duty  in  it.  So  that 
any  discontent  at  your  not  being  free,  or  rich,  or 
great  as  you  see  some  others,  is  quarreling  with  your 
heavenly" Master,  and  finding  fault  with  God  himself. 
*  *  *  There  is  only  one  circumstance  which 
may  appear  grievous,  that  I  shall  now  take  notice  of, 
and  that  is  CORRECTION. 

Now,  when  correction  is  given  you,  you  either  deserve 
it,  or  you  do  not  deserve  it.  But  whether  you  really 
deserve  it  or  not,  it  is  your  duty,  and  Almighty  God 
requires  that  you  bear  it  patiently.  You  may,  per 
haps,  think  that  this  is  hard  doctrine,  but  if  you  con 
sider  it  right,  you  must  needs  think  otherwise  of  it. 
Suppose,  then,  that  you  deserve  correction,  you  cannot 


434  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

but  say  that  it  is  just  and  right,  you  should  meet  with 
it.  Suppose  you  do  not,  or  at  least,  you  do  not  deserve 
so  much  or  so  severe  a  correction  for  the  fault  you 
have  committed  ;  you  perhaps  have  escaped  a  great 
many  more,  and  are  at  last  paid  for  all.  Or  suppose 
you  are  quite  innocent  of  what  is  laid  to  your  charge, 
and  suffer  wrongfully  in  that  particular  thing,  is  it  not 
possible  you  may  have  done  some  other  bad  thing 
which  was  never  discovered,  and  that  Almighty  God, 
who  saw  you  doing  it,  would  not  let  you  escape  with 
out  punishment  one  time  or  another  ?  And  ought  you 
not  in  such  a  case,  to  give  glory  to  Him,  and  be 
thankful  that  he  would  rather  punish  you  in  this  life 
for  your  wickedness,  than  destroy  your  souls  for  it  in 
the  next  life?  But  suppose  that  even  this  was  not 
the  case,  (a  case  hardly  to  be  imagined,)  and  that  you 
have  by  no  means,  known  or  unknown,  deserved  the 
correction  you  suffered,  there  is  this  great  comfort  in 
it,  that  if  you  bear  it  patiently,  and  leave  your  cause 
in  the  hands  of  God,  he  will  reward  you  for  it  in 
heaven,  and  the  punishment  you  suffer  unjustly  here, 
shall  turn  to  your  exceeding  great  glory  hereafter. 

So  much  for  Bishop  Meade  ;  his  whole  volume  is  a 
wonderful  exposition  and  illumination  of  the  whole 
slave  system,  as  related  to,  or  rather  sanctified  by  the 
American  church,  almost  irrespective  of  denomination. 
Judge  Birney,  might  have  reproduced  these  extracts 
in  his  luminous  tract  on  slavery  and  the  church,  and 
on  them  alone,  so  far  as  the  Episcopal  body  is  con 
cerned,  have  rested  his  case  forever. 

The  whole  volume  of  Bishop  Meade  contains  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pages  of  solid  apology  for,  and  jus 
tification  of  slavery  as  then  existing  at  the  south,  in 
the  name  of  the  Christian  religion,  its  Christ  and  God. 

No  other  copy  of  it  has  ever  come  to  my  knowledge. 
For  it,  I  was  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  my  excellent 
friend,  Mr.  Samuel  Brooke,  a  native  Virginian  himself. 
He  was  born  a  Friend  or  Quaker,  one  of  a  family  of 
four  or  five  brothers,  all  excellent  men  who  early 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  435 

removed  into  Ohio  and  became  earnest,  working  abol 
itionists,  eminently  hospitable  to  anti-slavery  lecturers, 
both  men  and  women  ;  besides  being  large  proprietors 
in  the  underground  rail-road  ;  and  frequently  running 
its  nightly  and  well  loaded  trains,  themselves.  And 
my  friend,  Samuel  Brooke,  who  gave  me  Bishop  Meade, 
was  long  an  active  anti-slavery  agent,  and  for  a  num 
ber  of  years,  general  agent  of  the  Western  Anti-Slav 
ery  Society,  and  since  slavery  was  abolished,  an  officer 
in  the  revenue  department  of  the  government  service. 

But  a  word  more  on  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church 
and  its  defense  and  reverend  defenders  of  the  terrible 
slave  system.  For  besides  Bishop  Meade,  another 
eminent  divine  has  left  us  his  volume  of  sermons,  now 
on  my  table.  It  contains  twenty-six  discourses,  and 
the  title-page  reads  thus  :  "  Sermons  preached  on 
plantations  to  congregations  of  negroes,  by  the  Rev. 
Alexander  Glennie,  rector  of  All  Saints  parish,  Wac- 
camaw,  S.  C.,  Charleston,  S.  C.  Published  and  sold 
by  A.  E.  Miller,  number  4  Broad  street,  1844. 

In  his  preface,  Dr.  Glennie  says  :  "  The  following 
sermons  were  written  for  the  benefit  of  the  colored 
portion  of  my  flock.  As  the  want  of  simple  sermons, 
suited  to  the  capacity  of  negroes,  is  frequently  spoken 
of,  I  have  made  this  selection  from  among  those  which 
I  have  been  writing  for  several  years  past,  and  pub 
lish  them  in  the  hope  that  catechisists  and  religious 
masters  may  find  them  of  use." 

The  fourth  sermon  of  the  twenty-six  is  precisely  in 
tone  and  sentiment  like  the  quotations  from  Bishop 
Meade.  Readers,  therefore,  could  not  be  interested 
in  them.  Let  this  one  exclamation  suffice.  The  text 
is :  "  With  good  will  doing  service  as  to  the  Lord 
and  not  to  men."  The  first  utterance  is  in  two  lines  : 
"  In  this  part  of  the  word  of  God,  servants  are  taught 


436  ACTS    OF    ANTI- SLA  VERY    APOSTLES. 

with  what  mind  they  should  do  their  service."  And 
then  this  exclamation  :  "  What  a  blessed  book  the 
Bible  is,  my  brethren  !  " 

And  the  law  of  the  state  at  that  moment,  punished 
with  twenty  lashes  any  slave  found  in  any  assembly 
convened  for  mental  instruction,  held  in  any  secret 
place,  though  in  presence  of  white  persons.  And  an 
older  law,  never  repealed,  punished  with  fine  of  a 
hundred  pounds,  any  person  who  should  teach  a  slave 
to  write.  In  North  Carolina,  to  teach  a  slave  to  read 
or  to  sell,  or  give  a  slave  any  book,  Bible  or  tract  not 
excepted,  was  thirty-nine  lashes,  if  the  offender  were 
a  free  negro  ;  or,  if  a  white  person,  a  fine  of  two  hun 
dred  dollars.  The  reason  given  for  this  law  was 
stated  in  the  preamble,  and  read,  in  part,  thus  :  That 
"  teaching  slaves  to  read  and  write  tends  to  excite  dis 
satisfaction  in  their  minds  and  to  produce  insurrection 
and  rebellion." 

More  time  and  space  have  been  given  to  the  Episco 
pal  church  than  was  intended.  Not  by  any  means 
because  that  was  more  culpable  than  the  other  denom 
inations  ;  but  the  nature  of  the  testimony  adduced, 
appeared  to  throw  more  and  clearer  light  on  the  rela 
tion  between  master  and  slave,  and  between  both  and 
the  church,  than  almost  any  other,  making  incontest- 
ably  certain  that  in  church  and  clerical  estimation,, 
slaves  had  no  religious  rights  which  white  saints  were 
bound  to  respect  here  ;  nor  any  salvation  hereafter, 
but  such  as  must  be  worked  out  with  "  literal  fear  and 
trembling,"  in  wholly  secular  service  for  such  masters 
and  mistresses  as  " God  had  set"  to  wield  the  lash 
over  them.  To  just  such,  and  there  were  then  three 
millions  of  them,  and  a  fourth  million  being  born, 
could  Rev.  Dr.  Glennie,  with  deep  devotion,  exclaim  : 
"  What  a  blessed  book,  my  brethren,  is  the  Bible  !  " 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  437 

But  let  one  more  Episcopal  bishop  come  into  this 
court  of  inquiry  and  investigation  ;  "the  Right  Rev. 
George  W.  Doane,  bishop  of  New  Jersey."  For  there 
may  be  worse,  as  well  as  better  men  than  Dr.  Glennie 
and  Bishop  Meade,  and  northern  men,  too.  In  1857, 
or  near,  there  was  published  in  Philadelphia,  an 
edition  of  the  Episcopal  "  book  of  common  prayer," 
marked  by  the  authentic  imprimatur  of  Bishop  Doane. 
At  that  time  no  works  of  religious  art  were  more  ad 
mired  than  those  of  Ary  Scheffer,  and  not  one  of  his 
more  than  his  wonderful  and  deeply  affecting  "  Chris- 
tus  Consolator."  The  New  York  Tribune  shall  tell 
the  rest,  in  an  article  copied  into  the  National  Anti- 
Slavery  Standard,  of  January  2d,  1858  : 

All  of  our  readers,  we  will  venture  to  assume,  are 
familiar  with  the  engraving  of  Ary  Scheffer's  famous 
picture,  entitled  "  Christus  Consolator."  They  will 
remember  that  the  Savior  is  seated  with  the  emblems 
of  his  divine  compassion  around  him,  in  the  persons 
of  the  wretched  beings  whose  diseases  he  had  cured, 
or  whose  sorrows  he  had  ministered  unto.  There  is 
the  mother  laying  her  dead  infant  at  the  sacred  feet, 
the  sick  man  imploring  the  healing  of  the  Almighty 
touch,  the  maniac  just  restored  to  reason,  with  his 
broken  chain  in  his  deliverer's  grasp,  the  negro  slave 
holding  out  his  fettered  hands  for  help  and  deliver 
ance.  Everybody  that  has  seen  it  will  recall  it  all. 
Well,  the  Philadelphia  publishers  of  the  prayer-book 
have  selected  this  conception  of  Scheffer's  as  an  ap 
propriate  ornament  of  its  title-page.  And,  surely, 
they  might  have  looked  very  far  for  a  more  fitting 
one  ;  but  they  thought  it  needed  some  emendation 
and  expurgation  before  being  put  before  the  eyes  of 
dainty  Christians  in  this  land  of  churches  and  of  cart- 
whips.  The  imploring  face  and  the  eloquent  man 
acles  of  the  slave  might,  perchance,  disturb  the 
devotions  of  southern  saints,  and  even  make  the  cot 
ton-stuffed  hassocks  of  many  northern  brethren  un 
comfortable  to  their  knees.  So,  to  remove  this  cause 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

of  offense  out  of  the  way,  the  prudent  publishers, 
while  they  left  all  the  other  monuments  of  Christ's 
compassion,  most  carefully  expurged  the  negro.  Per 
haps  they  thought  it  was  derogatory  to  the  divine 
character  of  Jesus  to  suppose  him  capable  of  sympa 
thizing  with  a  nigger.  Perhaps  they  belong  to  the 
sect  of  the  philosophic  (and  we  dare  say  pious)  John 
Randolph,  of  Kansas,  who  denies  that  negroes  have 
souls  any  more  than  horses  or  oxen.  More  likely, 
their  prophetic  souls  told  them  that  the  black  face  and 
those  chained  wrists  would  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
mercantile  transaction  they  were  engaged  in  with  the 
church.  We  have  seen  many  and  base  concessions  to 
slavery  and  pro-slavery  on  the  part  of  publishers  at 
the  north,  but  we  think  that  this  mutilation  of  an 
artist's  ideal,  to  suit  the  prayer-book  to  the  state  of  the 
slave-market,  is  rather  the  meanest,  paltriest  and  dirtiest 
of  them  all ! 

We  would  not  be  understood  as  implying  that  either 
the  Episcopal  church  or  the  prelate  who  gave  his 
sanction  to  this  edition  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
is  responsible  for  this  worse  than  shabby  trick.  What 
ever  faults  may  have  been  attributed  to  Bishop  Doane 
we  believe  that  he  was  always  in  favor  of  the  admis 
sion  of  the  colored  churches  to  equal  right  of  repre 
sentation  in  the  conventions  of  ihe  church,  during  the 
long  struggles  of  Mr.  John  Jay  (erroneously  printed 
William  on  page  426)  to  effect  what  justice  and 
canonical  regularity  alike  demanded.  And  we  be- 
believe,  too,  that  the  section  of  the  Episcopal  church 
usually  distinguished  as  the  high  church,  in  this  city 
and  in  Boston,  and  perhaps  generally  in  the  free 
states,  set  an  example  of  Christian  spirit  in  this  regard, 
which  their  dissenting  opponents  might  well  follow. 
In  the  city  of  Boston,  we  happen  to  know,  while  a 
prominent  Baptist  church  makes  it  a  condition  in  the 
deeds  of  the  pews  that  they  shall  be  forfeited  if  sold  to  a 
Baptist  with  a  colored  skin,  the  Church  of  the  Advent, 
embracing  many  persons  distinguished  for  genius,  cul 
ture,  refinement  and  wealth,  not  only  admits  black  men 
and  women  to  a  perfect  equality  of  sittings,  but  ac 
tually  seeks  them  out  to  invite  them  to  come  in.  And 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  439 

we  believe  the  same  Christian  spirit  of  equality  before 
God  prevails  among  the  high  churchmen  of  this  city,, 
also.  This  sneaking  act  of  servility  we  attribute  solely 
to  the  publishers,  and  we  have  told  of  it  merely  as  a 
proof  of  the  all-pervading  influence  of  slavery,  and  of 
the  opinion  of  the  Philadelphia  printers  as  to  its 
supremacy  in  the  church.  The  sensitive  nerve  of  the 
pocket  answered  to  the  sensibility  of  the  slave-holding 
conscience,  and  hence  this  despicable  toad-eating, 
even  in  the  presence  of  God  himself. 

No  southern  sect  was  more  zealous  in  giving  what 
was  called  "  religious  instruction"  to  slaves  than  the 
Episcopalians.  And  by  many,  as  has  been  shown,  it 
was  held  that  the  slaves  should  be  taught  to  read  the 
book,  to  see  for  themselves  that  it  was  God  and  not 
man,  the  Bible  not  the  laws  nor  constitution  that  au 
thorised  and  ordained  slavery  !  And  so  why  should 
Ary  Scheffer's  picture  contradict  the  doctrine  and  im 
pertinently  disturb  the  consciences  of  the  slave-holding 
bishops  and  Christians  in  New  Jersey  or  in  the  south 
ern  states  ? 

Of  the  lesser  denominations  composing  the  Ameri 
can  church  or  churches,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  say 
that  generally  they  supported  the  dominant  political 
parties  and  their  policy  toward  slavery,  including,  as 
has  already  been  shown,  the  execution  of  the  fugitive 
slave  law  to  the  end.  The  one  exception  was  the  old 
school  Scotch  Covenanters,  few  indeed  and  extremely 
sectarian,  but  their  doctrine  and  practice  on  war  as 
well  as  slavery,  were  always  respected  and  honored  by 
the  abolitionists. 

The  Friends,  or  Quakers,  permitted  no  slave-hold 
ing  among  members.  But  neither  the  duelling,  slave- 
holding,  nor  other  known  vices  of  Henry  Clay,  nor 
the  bloody  and  barbarous  war  record  of  Zachary  Tay 
lor,  besides  being  a.  very  large  slave-owner,  prevented 


440  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES 

a  large  proportion  of  the  Quakers  of  the  country  from 
supporting  them  as  candidates  for  the  presidency  of 
the  United  States.  The  Unitarians  and  Universalists 
denied  the  sacramental  fellowship  to  none,  deeming 
the  table  their  Lord's  and  not  their  own.  So  a  slave 
holder  might  presume  to  approach  unforbidden.  But 
it  was  ever  the  opinion  of  at  least  one  anti-slavery 
apostle,  that  if  a  persistent  horse  thief  or  notorious 
counterfeiter  had  made  too  bold  approach,  that,  were 
it  only  for  the  decency  and  respectability  of  the  thing, 
the  question  of  expediency  and  propriety  would  not 
have  been  deemed  irrelevant  or  out  of  order.  But 
abolitionists  as  such  never  interfered  with  any  denom 
inational  doctrines  or  doings,  only  so  far  as  they 
might  affect  favorably  or  unfavorably  the  emancipa 
tion  of  the  slaves. 

The  Free  Will  Baptists,  too,  like  the  Quakers, 
claimed  exemption  from  the  guilt  of  slave  owning, 
and  in  1839,  at  Coneaut,  Ohio,  refused  to  ordain  a 
slave-holder  to  the  ministry,  and  voted  that  "  with 
sorrow  of  heart  we  learn  that  slavery  is  tolerated,  de 
fended  and  practiced  in  the  Christian  church."  But 
the  whole  truth  soon  disclosed  that  they  could  do 
much  more  than  call  slave-breeders,  slave-traders  and 
slave-holders  the  "  Christian  church."  In  New  Hamp 
shire  and  Maine,  where  their  great  strength  lay,  they 
reviled  the  anti-slavery  movement,  and  expelled  both 
ministers  and  members  for  anti-slavery  fidelity.  This 
very  hour  I  spoke  with  one  of  them,  a  man  of  most 
unspotted  Christian  character,  and  to  this  time,  a 
faithful  and  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament.  No 
democracy  in  slavery's  darkest  days  was  too  foul  for 
Free  Will  Baptist  embrace.  The  democratic  party 
long  ruled  Maine  and  New  Hampshire,  as  it  could  not 
have  done  but  for  the  vote  of  that  denomination.  One 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  441 

of  its  ministers  insolently  boasted  to  me  that  every 
voting  member  in  his  church  belonged  to  the  demo 
cratic  party,  and  he  himself  had  held  distinguished 
civil  office  as  a  working  member  of  the  party.  In  all 
these  denominations  just  named,  I  knew  many,  or 
some  most  honorable  exceptions,  to  be  sure  not  many 
in  all,  and  among  the  very  best  and  bravest,  some  were 
leading  clergymen. 

Of  the  Campbellites  or  Disciples,  not  so  good  ac 
count  can  be  given.  They  were  little  known  in  New 
England  or  New  York.  But  where  they  were  found 
generally,  though  not  quite  always,  they  were  on  the 
side  of  the  oppressor.  Their  principal  leader,  if  not 
founder,  was  Rev.  Alexander  Campbell,  and  he  was 
also  editor  and  controller  of  the  Millennial  Harbinger, 
the  denominational  organ.  In  that,  Dr.  Campbell 
wrote  thus  : 

"  Is  the  simple  relation  of  master  and  slave  neces 
sarily  and  essentially  immoral  and  unchristian,  as  that 
for  example  of  the  adulterer  and  adulteress  ?  We  are 
dearly  and  satisfactorily  convinced  it  is  not.  It  would 
be,  in  our  most  calm  and  deliberate  judgement,  a 
sin  against  every  dispensation  of  religion, — Patriar 
chal,  Jewish  and  Christian, — to  suppose  that  the  re 
lationship  of  master  and  slave  was,  in  its  very  nature 
and  being,  a  sin  against  God  and  man." 

In  May  of  the  same  year  he  declares  further  : 

"  There  is  not  one  verse  in  the  Bible  inhibiting 
slavery,  but  many  regulating  it.  It  is  not,  then,  we 
conclude,  immoral. 

"  The  discipline  of  the  church  is  the  only  discipline 
under  which  Christian  slaves  can  be  placed  by  Christian 
masters.  If  they  will  not  faithfully  serve  their  Chris 
tian  masters,  who  'partake  of  the  benefit'  of  their 
labors,  then  are  they,  after  proper  instruction  and  ad- 


442  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

monition,  to  be  separated  from  the  church,  and  to  be 
put  under  whatever  other  discipline  a  Christian  master 
under  the  existing  laws  of  the  state,  may  inflict."  *  * 
"  To  preserve  unity  of  spirit  among 
Christians  of  the  south  and  of  the  north  is  my  grand 
object,  and  for  that  purpose  I  am  endeavoring  to  show 
that  the  New  Testament  does  not  authorize  any  inter 
ference  or  legislation  upon  the  relation  of  master  and 
slave,  nor  does  it,  either  in  letter  or  spirit,  authorize 
Christians  to  make  it  a  term  of  communion. 

"  Every  man  who  loves  the  American  Union,  as 
well  as  every  man  who  desires  a  constitutional  end 
of  American  slavery,  is  bound  to  prevent,  as  far  as 
possible,  any  breach  of  communion  between  Christians 
at  the  south  and  at  the  north." 

So  far  Dr.  Campbell.  Dr.  Shannon,  president  of 
Bacon  college,  an  eminent  Disciple  authority,  also 
wrote  a  Bible  argument  for  slavery,  with  this  conclu 
sion  : 

"  Thus  did  Jehovah  stereotype  his  approbation  of 
domestic  slavery,  by  incorporating  it  with  the  institutions 
of  the  Jewish  religion,  the  only  religion  on  earth  that 
had  the  Divine  sanction." 

In  paying  attention  to  the  Free  Will  Baptists  it 
seemed  proper  to  refer  to  their  democratic  tenden 
cies  at  a  time  when  that  party  ruled  supreme  and 
slavery  enjoyed  the  full  benefit.  The  Campbellites 
were  similarly  patriotic,  and  appear  to  have  so  con 
tinued,  even  to  the  very  last  presidential  election,  as 
the  following  passage  from  the  famous  "  Dorsey-Gar- 
field  correspondence  "  proves  : 

On  August  30,  1881,  Mr.  Garfield  wrote  thus  :  "If 
we  carry  Indiana  in  October,  the  rest  is  comparatively 
easy.  We  shall  make  a  very  serious,  perhaps  fatal, 
mistake  if  we  do  not  throw  all  our  available  strength 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  443 

into  that  state.  I  have  taken  great  pains  to  ascertain 
the  situation  of  the  parties  there,  not  from  extensive 
correspondence  alone,  but  I  have  sent  intelligent  and 
trustworthy  observers  to  various  parts  of  the  state  to 
make  special  enquiries  on  various  aspects  of  the  con 
test.  *  *  From  twenty-five  thousand  to  thirty 
thousand  voters  of  Indiana  are  members  of  the  denom 
ination  of  Disciples,  and  at  least  half  of  them  are  dem 
ocrats  !  A  quiet,  but  very  earnest  movement,  wholly 
outside  the  state  committee,  has  been  organized,  and 
is  being  vigorously  and  judiciously  pushed,  with  the 
strongest  probability  that  at  least  two  thousand  five 
hundred  changes  of  votes  in  our  favor  will  result. 
I  went  over  the  whole  ground  with  Sen 
ator  Dorsey  when  he  was  here  en  route  for  Chicago, 
and  his  letters  since  his  arrival  there  strongly  confirm 
my  opinion. 

No  comment  is  needed  here.  My  own  experience 
among  "  Disciples,"  not  only  in  Indiana  and  Ohio, 
where  they  were  very  numerous  in  the  hottest  days  of 
the  anti-slavery  conflict,  but  in  other  parts  of  the  west, 
induced  me  to  believe  that  not  only  were  "  at  least 
half  of  them  democrats,"  but  that  they  were  very  far 
from  being  of  the  highest  order  even  of  the  demo 
cratic  party. 

One  personal  encounter  I  well  remember.  My  trav 
eling  companions  and  myself,  three  or  four  in  all,  went 
on  a  beautiful  October  Saturday  to  Hiram,  the  seat 
of  the  college  of  which  Mr.  Garfield  was  principal  and 
head,  to  commence  in  the  afternoon  a  strictly  moral 
and  religious  anti-slavery  meeting  to  hold  over  Sun 
day.  But  in  the  afternoon  a  crowd  of  the  pupils  got 
possession  of  the  house,  and  behaved  in  so  vile  and 
vulgar  a  manner  as  to  prevent  our  being,  heard,  and 

before  night  we  were  glad  to  leave  the  place. 

28 


444  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

The  Millennial  Harbinger  was  law  and  gospel  there 
to  all  intents  and-  purposes,  coming  fresh  from  Vir 
ginia,  then  the  land  of  whips,  chains  and  red  hot 
branding  irons,  and  all  the  frightful  paraphernalia  and 
appointments  for  slave-breeding  and  slave-trading,  as 
well  as  slave-holding.  Virginia,  where  so  late  as  1849 
a  law  was  enacted  making  it  criminal  to  teach  any 
slave  or  free  colored  person  to  read  or  write.  Vir 
ginia,  where  the  kind-hearted  Margaret  Douglass  was 
imprisoned  for  teaching  some  free  colored  children  to 
read  only  the  New  Testament  and  catechism.  Vir 
ginia,  under  whose  soil  ran  the  roots  of  Preceptor  Gar-. 
field's  Hiram  college,  whose  students,  studying  under 
the  afterwards  President  Garfield,  could,  and  did, 
wantonly,  wickedly,  maliciously,  under  a  bright  Octo 
ber  sun,  enter,  break  up  and  scatter  a  strictly  moral, 
peaceful,  religious,  anti-slavery  convention,  and  com 
pel  those  who  had  come  to  hold  it,  to  leave  the  town  ! 

THE  AMERICAN    BIBLE    SOCIETY. 

This  society  was  organized  in  1816,  its  object  being 
"  to  encourage  a  wider  circulation  of  the  Bible  without 
note  or  comment,"  using  only  the  then  accepted  ver 
sion,  and  its  field  was  the  world,  as  opportunity  and 
resources  permitted.  The  slave  states  had  some  aux 
iliary  societies,  though  in  most,  if  not  every  one  of 
them,  a  sixth  part  of  the  people  were  prohibited,  under 
heavy  penalties,  from  being  taught  to  read.  True  the 
slaves  were  held  amenable  to  the  law,  and  seventy 
offenses  which  they  might  commit  were  punishable 
with  death  !  And  in  the  election  of  president  and 
members  of  congress  the  masters  were  permitted  to 
count  three-fifths  of  the  slaves  as  free  men  and  cast 
their  votes  for  them  accordingly  ;  and  in  the  year 
1837,  many  millions  of  surplus  revenue  were  distribu 
ted  among  the  states  on  the  same  unjust  and  unrigh- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  445 

teous  principle,  giving  six  slave  states  nearly  seven 
million  dollars  ;  while  Pennsylvania,  with  a  free  pop 
ulation  larger  than  all  six  of  them,  received  less  than 
four  million  dollars. 

But  the  parent  Bible  society  never  reckoned  even  a 
fractional  humanity  in  slaves.  So  far  as  reading  and 
writing  were  concerned,  it  just  plunged  the  whole 
slave  population  down  to  the  dead  level  of  brute 
beasts,  as  will  be  shown.  Strange  confusion  would 
sometimes  result  from  a  state  of  society  so  unnatural, 
so  monstrous.  In  1841,  a  little  Bible  auxiliary  soci 
ety  existed  in  New  Orleans,  and  one  of  its  distribu 
ting  agents  was  overheard  asking  a  group  of  slaves  if 
they  could  read  or  write,  or  wanted  a  Bible  ?  He  was 
immediately  arrested  as  an  incendiary  and  carried  to 
court.  His  name  was  Chauncey  B.  Black,  and  the  New 
Orleans  Picayune,  of  August  12,  1841,  gives  a  minute 
account  of  the  trial.  The  accuser  was  William  H. 
Avery  ;  the  magistrate  was  Mr.  Recorder  Baldwin, 
and  Mr.  Maybin,  Mr.  Lowndes,  Mr.  Stevens,  Mr. 
Goodrich,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Wheaton,  (good  Massachu 
setts  names)  were  summoned  to  testify. 

The  accused  stated  that  he  was  agent  of  the  Bible 
society,  and  that  he  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Lowndes, 
one  of  the  prominent  members  of  it.  He  said  he  was 
then  engaged  in  taking  the  names  only,  of  such  per 
sons  as  stood  in  need  of  the  Bible  and  would  accept 
it  from  the  society,  and  entered  on  his  list  indiscrim 
inately  white  and  colored,  free  persons  and  slaves. 

The  witnesses  admitted  their  organization  and  ob 
jects;  had  raised  a  thousand  dollars  already,  and 
ordered  books  from  the  parent  depository  in  New 
York  to  that  amount  ;  some  in  German,  French  and 
Spanish,  as  well  as  in  the  English  language,  but  they 


446  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES. 

declared  "  it  never  for  one  moment  entered  into  the 
mind  of  the  society  to  present  one  single  Bible  to  a 
slave" 

Mr.  Lowndes  distinctly  stated,  and  impressed  it 
strongly  on  the  mind  of  the  court,  "  that  before  any 
Bibles  were  distributed  to  those  whose  names  might 
be  taken  by  the  accused,  the  list  was  to  be  first  sub 
mitted  to  him.  And  as  it  was  opposed  to  his  own 
feelings,  and  contrary  to  the  intention  of  the  society, 
he  would  certainly  furnish  no  Bible  to  any  slave." 

"  The  strongest,  most  satisfactory  evidence  was 
given  that  the  accused  bore  an  excellent  character  ; 
and  that  in  speaking  to  the  slaves  at  all  he  acted  from 
a  misconception  of  the  instructions  of  Mr.  Lowndes, 
and  an  ignorance  of  his  duties  as  an  agent  of  the  Bible 
society." 

A  Mr.  Micon  was  counsel  for  the  accused,  and  made 
a  good  and  successful  defense. 

"The  Recorder  briefly  addressed  the  prisoner,  told 
him  he  highly  approved  the  laudable  work  of  distribu 
ting  the  Bible,  in  which  he  was  engaged.  But  while 
executing  that  duty,  he  must  be  cautious  not  to  in 
fringe  on  other  rights  which  are  as  sacred  to  this  com 
munity  as  religion  itself.  Believing  that  in  speaking  to 
the  slaves  he  was  actuated  by  no  evil  intention,  he 
would  discharge  him,  bidding  him  God-speed  in  his 
religious  career,  and  cautioning  him  against  ever 
bringing  himself  in  contact  with  our  institutions." 

The  latest  Louisiana  enactment  on  the  teaching  of 
slaves  letters  which  I  can  find  was  in  1830,  to  this 
purport  : 

"  Any  person  who  shall  attempt  to  teach  any  free 
person  of  color  or  slave  to  spell,  read  or  write,  shall, 
upon  conviction  thereof,  be  imprisoned  not  less  than 
one,  nor  more  than  twelve  months." 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  447 

But  what  shall  be  said  to  this  provision  for  oral  in 
struction,  in  that  same  Louisiana  ?  According  to 
Judge  Stroud,  quoting  First  Martin's  Digest,  610  : 
"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  owner  to  procure  for 
his  sick  slaves  all  kinds  of  temporal  and  spiritual  as 
sistance  which  their  situation  may  require." 

Here  truly  was  death-bed  repentance  contemplated, 
distancing  in  extremity  that  of  the  thief  on  the  cross. 
But  there  were  many  at  the  south,  as  has  already  been 
intimated,  who  believed  that  the  slaves  should  have 
the  Bible,  and  be  taught  to  read  it.  The  reason  given 
was  that  it  would  tend  to  make  and  keep  them  contented 
with  their  lot  in  bondage,  to  know  that  it  was  all  by  di 
vine  appointment ! 

In  the  year  1854,  at  the  Abbeville,  South  Carolina, 
district  Bible  society  anniversary,  this  subject  was 
agitated,  and  had  earnest  and  extended  discussion. 
This  society  was  organized  in  1823,  and  had,  in  1854, 
seven  working  auxiliary  associations.  At  the  anniver 
sary  of  that  year,  a  principal  address  appears  to  have 
been  delivered  by  Robert  A.  Fair,  Esq.,  and  published 
in  the  society  proceedings,  under  this  heading  : 

"The  Christian  duty  of  placing  the  Bible  in  the 
hands  of  the  negro,  and  teaching  him  to  read  it." 

A  few  passages  from  that  discourse  will  be  both  in 
structive  and  interesting  : 

If  the  teachings  of  holy  writ  were  at  war  with  the 
institution  of  slavery,  and  we  were  struggling  to 
maintain  it  in  opposition  to  those  teachings  ;  or  if  the 
proposition  were  to  put  the  slave  in  possession  of  a 
knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences — to  confer  a  high 
degree  of  intellectual  culture — fully  to  educate  him, 
we  might  be  disposed  to  yield  the  point.  But  how 
stands  the  case  ?  Why,  that  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
are  not  only  not  unfriendly  to  the  institution  of  sla 
very,  but  that  in  those  teachings,  the  institution  is 


44^  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

most  amply  recognized.     It  is  upon  them  that  we  tri 
umphantly  rest  its  defense. 

That  question  being  settled  beyond  dispute,  the  in 
genious  orator  proceeds  : 

We  would  not  be  startled  at  the  announcement  of 
the  fact  that  two-thirds  of  our  slave  population  do 
not  know  or  believe  that  the  subiect  of  slavery,  or 
their  condition,  is  ever  alluded  to  in  the  Bible — that 
two-thirds  of  them  are  ignorant  of  the  authority  by 
which  we  essay  to  hold  them  in  bondage,  or  demand 
at  their  hands  obedience  and  service.  To  such,  how 
galling  is  the  yoke  !  How  bitter  is  the  bondage  ! 

So  much  for  the  slaves  and  the  Bible.  Now  for  the 
masters.  For  the  humane,  Mr.  Fair  does  not  forget 
to  deal  Fairly  by  both  parties.  As,  for  example  : 

Nor  would  we  be  startled  at  the  announcement  of 
the  fact  that  many  masters  are  ignorant  of  any  scrip 
tural  view  of  the  subject  —  ignorant  of  the  true 
grounds  upon  which  to  place  the  institution  and  the 
duties  of  masters  ;  which  ignorance  betrays  them  into 
many  errors  and  abuses,  the  tendency  of  which  is  to 
undermine  the  institution.  Now,  relieve  the  minds  of 
both  parties  of  their  ignorance  and  darkness,  and 
thoroughly  educate  and  indoctrinate  them  into  clear, 
sound,  intelligent  scriptural  views  of  the  whole  subject, 
and  of  what  an  immense  weight  will  the  institution  be 
relieved  !  and  of  what  a  burden  will  the  bosoms  of 
slaves,  and  the  minds  of  masters  be  relieved  ! 

Here  are  the  motives,  reasons  for  teaching  both 
masters  and  slaves  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  chattel 
slavery.  That  both  may  know  that  God  and  the  Bible 
were  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  horrible  system. 

But  what  said  the  parent  organization,  "the  Amer 
ican  Bible  society,"  now  under  our  consideration,  to 
such  reasoning  and  such  religion  ?  It  said,  through 
its  secretary,  and  the  Monthly  Record,  organ  of  the 
society,  just  this  : 

This  subject  of  furnishing  Bibles  to  slaves,  is  one 
of  vast  importance  and  will  receive  more  of  the  at- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  449 

tention  of  our  southern  auxiliaries  than  heretofore. 
I  find  that  the  recent  excellent  address,  delivered  in 
South  Carolina,  and  reprinted  in  part  in  our  February 
Record,  has  been  widely  read,  and  so  far  as  I  have 
learned,  meets  the  approval  of  the  Christian  com 
munity. 

But  the  Southern  Presbyterian  reviews  Mr.  Fair  with 
great  severity — disagrees  with  him  altogether,  thus  : 

We  insist  that  the  laws  are  imperiously  demanded 
by  a  regard  to  the  public  safety.  Is  there  any  great 
moral  reason  why  we  should  incur  the  tremendous 
risk  of  having  our  wives  and  children  slaughtered,  in 
consequence  of  our  slaves  being  taught  to  read  in 
cendiary  publications  ?  *  *  *  Mr.  Fair  seems 
to  be  uninformed  of  the  fact  that  the  scriptures  are 
read  in  our  churches  every  sabbath  day.  And  these 
very  passages  which  inculcate  the  duties  of  masters 
and  slaves,  in  consequence  of  their  textual  connec 
tion,  are  more  frequently  read  than  other  portions  of 
the  book. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Mr.  Fair  is  not  a  clergy 
man.  Possibly,  the  editor  of  the  Presbyterian  is  not. 
But  he  evidently  belongs  to  the  church  militant,  and 
holds  statute  law  forbidding  slaves  to  read  such  "  in 
cendiary  publications"  as  Isaiah,  and  the  sermon  on 
the  mount,  as  absolutely  needful  for  the  safety  of  "  the 
throats  of  the  wives  and  children  of  slave-holders." 

Such,  at  that  time,  was  the  American  Bible  society 
and  its  auxiliaries,  judged  by  the  declarations  and  tes 
timonies  of  its  organs  and  officers.  Its  own  friends, 
and  no  others. 

THE    AMERICAN    TRACT    SOCIETY. 

And  now  we  touch  bottom,  if  ever,  in  sounding  the 
depths  of  clerical  devotion  to  slavery.  To  the  Tract 
society,  ministers,  always  its  controlling,  governing  in 
fluence,  especially  in  the  publication  department,  the 


450  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

slave-holder  could   well  have  sung,  in   the   strain   of 
King  Solomon  : 

"  Many  daughters  have  done  virtuously, 
But  thou  excellest  them  all." 

The  Bible  society  could  say  it  was  instituted  for  one 
sole,  specific  purpose,  to  disseminate  the  scriptures, 
"  without  note  or  comment."  The  tract  society  was 
chartered  : 

"To  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  redeemer  of  sinners,  and  to  promote  the 
interests  of  vital  godliness  and  sound  morality,  by  the 
circulation  of  religious  tracts,  calculated  to  receive 
the  approbation  of  all  evangelical  Christians." 

And  so,  when  asked  to  testify  in  one  little  sheet, 
against  slavery,  as  was  asked  by  thousands  of  church 
members  and  contributors  to  its  funds,  were  it  "  only 
so  much  as  quotations  from  scripture,  bearing  on  the 
various  elements  of  oppression  which  enter  into  sla 
very,  it  dared  to  refuse,  on  the  simple  ground  that  all 
tracts  were  to  receive  the  approbation  of  all  evangel 
ical  Christians."  And  how  could  slave-holders  ap 
prove  even  scripture  protest  against  their  patriarchal 
institution  ? 

Indeed,  the  time  came,  when  not  only  whole 
churches  and  their  ministers  protested  against  the 
course  of  this  society,  but  even  state  ecclesiastical  as 
sociations  earnestly  petitioned,  as  well  as  solemnly 
protested,  in  relation  to  the  subject.  It  was  the  gen 
eral  association  of  Michigan  that  asked,  with  but  a 
single  dissenting  vote,  for  the  scripture  tract  against 
slavery.  For  only  "  so  much  as  the  naked  Bible  texts 
against  it."  In  one  instance,  the  answer  was  soured 
with  an  insolence  worthy  the  plantation  itself.  "If 
the  southern  churches  remain  evangelical  churches, 
and  southern  Christians  are  evangelical  Christians,  it 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  451 

is  their  right,  and  your  duty,  to  abstain  from  publishing 
even  truths,  the  publication  of  which,  they  would  not 
approve. 

But  instead  of  dwelling  on  the  controversy,  which 
for  a  long  time  only  worried  the  society,  and  its  nearly 
harmless  opponents,  and  which  would  neither  expiate 
the  tediousness  nor  reward  our  toil,  let  us  glance  a 
little  at  some  of  the  society  action  in  various  ways  to 
shield  the  bloody  idol  from  the  attacks  of  the  earnest, 
upright  and  downright  abolitionists,  whose  word  and 
work  were  always,  not  only  respected  by  the  south, 
but  greatly  feared  ;  as  our  New  York  and  Boston  anti- 
slavery  anniversaries  always  showed,  to  the  very  last. 

Besides  tracts,  the  society  published,  for  cheap  sale 
or  gratuitous  distribution,  many  bound  volumes,  and 
sometimes  they  contained  sentiments  quite  blasphe 
mous  to  the  worship  of  the  slave-holding  Moloch. 
These  were  always,  with  wondrous  prudence  and  fore 
sight,  suppressed.  Some  of  these  works  were  English, 
and  copy-righted,  too.  But  that  made  no  difference. 
They  were  not  only  "pirated,"  as  it  was  called,  but 
most  unrighteously  perverted  (and  for  most  piratical 
purposes,  too),  from  the  author's  meaning.  Instead 
of  denying,  the  publishing  committee  defended  what 
they  did  :  they  defended  it  in  one  of  their  annual  re 
ports,  thus  :  "  We  do  expunge  whatever  the  Christians 
•of  the  south  would  regard  as  untruthful,  harsh,  or  de 
nunciatory." 

Here,  now,  is  an  instance.  The  well-known  work, 
by  the  eminent  Dr.  Harris,  of  London,  on  covetous- 
ness,  entitled  :  "  Mammon,"  a  prize  essay,  was  thus 
seized  and  published  by  the  tract  society,  with  this 
slight,  but,  to  slave-holders,  terribly  significant  omis 
sion.  The  author,  showing  the  immoral  influence  of 
covetousness,  said  :  "  Its  history  is  the  history  of 


452  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

slavery  and  oppression,   in   all   ages."     "  Evangelica 
Christians   at  the  south,"  might   stand  "  oppression/" 
but  "slavery,"  never.     And  so  "oppression"  was  re 
tained,  but  not  "  slavery." 

Another  English  work,  republished  by  the  society, 
was  entitled,  "  Habitual  exercise  of  love  to  God,"  by 
Joseph  John  Gurney,  an  eminent  preacher  of  the 
society  of  Friends.  It  was  remarkable  that  the  society 
should  have  taken  up  a  work  of  such  an  arch  heretic 
as  a  Quaker  preacher.  But  so  it  did,  and  mutilated 
it  to  this  extent.  On  page  142,  the  author  reaches  a 
conclusion  thus  : 

Had  this  love  always  prevailed  among  professing 
Christians,  where  would  have  been  the  sword  of  the 
crusader  ?  where  the  African  slave  trade  ?  where  the 
odious  system  which  permits  man  a  property  in  his 
fellow  man,  and  converts  rational  beings  into  market 
able  chattels  ? 

The  tract  society  makes  this  sentence  read  like  this  : 
Listen  ! 

If  this  love  had  always  prevailed 'among  professing 
Christians,  where  would  have  been  the  sword  of  the 
crusader  ?  where  the  tortures  of  the  inquisition  '/  where 
every  system  of  oppression  and  wrong  by  which  he 
who  has  the  power  revels  in  luxury  and  ease,  at  the 
expense  of  his  fellow  men  ? 

Another  foreign  book  was  "  Life  of  Mary  Lundie 
Duncan,  of  Scotland.  On  one  occasion,  she  had 
listened  with  youthful  ardor  and  sympathy,  to  the  elo 
quence  of  the  distinguished  orator,  as  well  as  aboli 
tionist,  and,  subsequently,  member  of  parliament, 
George  Thompson.  She  afterwards  wrote  this, 
which  the  tract  society  suppressed  from  her  work  : 

We  have  lately  been  much  interested  in  the  emanci 
pation  of  the  slaves.  I  never  heard  eloquence  more 
overpowering  than  that  of  George  Thompson.  I  am 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  453 

most  thankful  that  he  has  been  raised  up.  O  that  the 
measure  soon  to  be  proposed  in  parliament,  may  be 
successful  !  " 

Later,  when  he  was  about  to  visit  the  United  States, 
at  the  earnest  desire  of  Garrison  and  other  abolition 
ists,  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  American  slave,  Mrs. 
Duncan  addressed  him  as,  "  George  Thompson,  the 
eloquent  pleader  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  ;  "  and 
closed  her  communication  with  these  strains : 

"  Yet  go,  heaven-favored  hero,  go  ! 

Pursue  your  glorious  plan  ; 
Abridge  the  weight  of  human  woe, 
And  raise  the  slave  to  man. 

"  Heaven  bless  your  cause  !    Your  country's  prayers, 

Attend  you  o'er  the  sea ! 
Go  break  the  chain  that  slaverv  wears, 
And  bid  the  oppressed  go  free  !  " 

All  this,  and  much  more  was  most  unrighteously 
suppressed  by  the  mendacious  publication  committee 
of  the  Tract  Society  ! 

Mrs.  Lundie  was  in  New  York  when  this  memoir  of 
her  daughter  was  already  in  the  hands  of  that  com 
mittee  ;  and  it  was  well  understood  that  she  was 
called  upon  by  one  of  the  secretaries  and  modestly 
asked,  even  urged  to  consent  to  the  mutilations.  But 
she  persistently  declined  ;  the  lines  being  peculiarly 
precious  to  her  for  their  sentiment,  and  for  her  dear 
daughter's  sake.  The  shameless  omissions  were  how 
ever  made,  reckless  of  all  truth  and  right,  regardless 
of  a  mourning  mother's  feelings,  and  tenderest  love  ! 

One  other  of  these  marvelous  changes,  and  mon 
strous  omissions,  is  all  for  which  time,  space,  and 
patience  can  permit. 

Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  so  well  known  in  Puritan  his 
tory,  among  his  voluminous  writings,  left  one  entitled, 
Essays  to  do  good,"  and  here  is  a  passage  : 


454  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

O  that  the  souls  of  our  slaves  were  more  regarded 
by  us  ;  that  we  might  give  a  better  demonstration 
that  we  despise  not  our  own  souls,  by  doing  what  we 
can  for  the  souls  of  our  slaves  !  How  can  we  pre 
tend  to  Christianity,  when  we  do  no  more  to  christian 
ize  our  slaves  ? 

But  the  Tract  Society  carefully,  prudently,  printed 
the  word  servants,  instead  of  slaves  ! 

And  the  following  whole  paragraph  was  most 
wickedly  suppressed  : 

But  if  any  servant  of  God  may  be  so  honored  by 
Him  as  to  be  made  the  successful  instrument  of 
obtaining  from  a  British  Parliament,  an  act  for  the 
christianizing  of  the  slaves  on  the  plantations,  then  it 
may  be  hoped  something  more  may  be  done,  than  has 
yet  been  done,  that  the  blood  of  souls  may  not  be 
found  in  the  skirts  of  our  nation.  A  controversy 
with  heaven  and  our  colonies  may  be  removed,  and 
prosperity  may  be  restored  ;  or  however  the  honorable 
instrument  will  have  unspeakable  peace  and  joy  in  the 
remembrance  of  his  endeavors.  In  the  meantime,  the 
slave  trade  is  a  spectacle  which  shocks  humanity. 

"  The  harmless  natives  basely  they  trepan 
And  barter  baubles  for  the  soul  of  man. 
The  wretches,  they  to  Christian  climes  bring  o'er, 
To  serve  worse  heathen  than  they  did  before  !  " 

Such  were  the  suppressions  and  changes  made  by 
the  Tract  Society  in  reproducing  the  "  Essays  to  do 
good,"  more  than  a  hundred  years  after  they  were 
written.  One  other  fact  should  be  stated  here  which 
even  adds  to  the  audaciousness  of  the  whole  proceed 
ing.  For  a  long  time  the  work  was  out  of  print.  It 
was  afterwards  reissued  in  England  ;  and  slavery 
having  already  been  abolished  there,  the  allusions  to 
it  were  for  that  reason  omitted.  But  the  editor  in  a 
foot  note,  stated  what  they  were,  and  why  they  were 
omitted.  That  edition  was  followed  in  this  country  ; 
but  not  the  notes  ;  the  English  editor  omitting  the 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  455 

passages  because  they  were  inapplicable  to  his  coun 
try,  and  giving  his  reasons  ;  the  Tract  Society  omit 
ting  them  because  they  were  applicable,  in  dreadful 
sense,  and  saying  nothing  about  it  ! 

For  some  of  these  startling  statements  and  facts,  I 
am  indebted  to  a  masterly  letter  of  remonstrance  sent 
by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Fourth  Congregational 
church  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  to  the  officers  and  direct 
ors  of  the  American  Tract  Society.  The  letter  was 
prepared  by  a  committee  consisting  of  the  pastor  of 
the  church,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Patton,  John  Hooker,  Esq., 
an  eminent  lawyer  of  Hartford,  husband  of  the  well, 
and  widely  known  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Beecher  Hooker, 
and  Mr.  Milo  Doty.  It  was  published  in  a  tract  form 
of  thirty-four  closely  printed  pages,  and  circulated  to 
the  number  of  several  thousands.  In  1855,  the  stereo 
type  plates  were  generously  presented  to  the  American 
Tract  Society,  and  the  work  was  immediately  adopted 
as  No.  1 6  of  its  tract  publications. 

But  to  the  old  Tract  Society,  the  mighty  appeal  was 
of  small  account;  it  had  already  received  thousands  of 
similar  substance  and  disposed  of  them  after  its  pleas 
ure.  It  is  only  too  certain  that  its  officers  knew  very 
well  the  quality  of  the  remonstrants,  especially  their 
leaders  and  directors.  I  have  already  more  than 
intimated  that  they  were  not  of  formidable  or  danger 
ous  character  to  the  slave-holding  communion,  and 
their  northern  allies  and  abettors.  When  the  Ameri 
can  churches  were  proved  "the  bulwarks  of  American 
slavery,"  and  its  "  forlorn  hope,"  indeed,  by  testimony 
immovable  as  earth's  foundations,  the  abolitionists 
came  out  of  them  as  their  only  escape  from  the  sin 
and  its  plagues.  But  the  "  new  organization  "  anti- 
slavery  as  it  was  called,  did  not  come  out  from  among 
the  slave-holders  ;  and  the  American  Tract  Society 


456  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

knew  it,  and  knew  they  had  no  intention  of  such  sep 
aration.  The  directors  of  the  American  board  of 
foreign  mission^  knew  it,  and  the  Baptist  board,  and 
the  general  conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  There  were  some  pretended  separations,  and 
we  have  seen  to  what  purpose.  The  tract  society 
saw  to  what  purpose,  at  the  time,  and  knew  just  what  to 
expect  ;  and  the  society  was  not  disappointed. 

There  was  a  seeming  separation  among  the  support 
ers  of  the  American  Tract  Society. 

It  should  be  said  here  that  the  original  tract 
society  was  organized  and  incorporated  in  Massachu 
setts  with  head  quarters  at  Andover.  In  1823,  its 
name  was  changed  from  New  England  Religious 
Tract,  to  American  Tract  Society.  In  1825,  the 
American  Tract  Society  was  incorporated  in  New 
York  under  a  new  charter,  the  Massachusetts  society 
becoming  a  branch  of  it  :  but  surrendered  all  its 
stereotype  plates  and  publications  to  the  new  society, 
with  agreement  that  it  should  be  furnished  with  all 
the  publications  it  required,  at  cost  not  greater  than 
it  had  been  before.  This  union  continued  till  1859  ; 
then,  in  consequence  of  the  dissatisfaction  of  many 
members,  and  some  officers,  (expressed  like  the 
Hartford  and  other  letters,)  because  the  society  would 
not  publish  tracts  disapproving  of  American  slavery, 
the  Boston  society  withdrew  and  resumed  its 
former  independent  position.  And  what  readers 
must  desire  to  know  is,  exactly  what  position  did  the 
Boston  department  assume  and  sustain  towards  the 
parent  stock  at  New  York,  from  which  they  had 
sawed  themselves  off,  and  that  had  been  deliberately 
guilty  of  the  outrages  just  revealed  and  exposed,  and 
which  the  remonstrants  themselves  urged  with  such 
power  as  motive  and  reason  for  their  final  withdrawal. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  457 

Among  the  many  writers,  whether  as  editors  of 
periodicals  or  authors  of  reports  of  societies,  or  of  con 
ventions,  or  of  tracts,  or  larger  works  on  slavery  and 
kindred  themes,  the  anti-slavery  conflict  produced  no 
one  of  finer  quality,  everyway,  especially  for  patient, 
untiring  industry  and  perseverance,  clear,  calm  and 
ever  conscientious  judgment  of  men  and  of  parties, 
whether  political  or  religious,  than  Mr.  Charles  K. 
Whipple.  To  his  sterling  faithfulness,  energy  and 
perseverance,  editors,  lecturers  and  other  writers  and 
workers  were  often  indebted  for  facts,  statements  and 
statistics,  inevitable  to  their  success.  His  exhaustive 
work  on  the  relations  to  slavery  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  in  nearly 
two  hundred  and  fifty  large  pages,  closely  printed  in 
fine  type,  compiled  wholly  from  its  own  annual  reports 
and  other  oilicial  documents,  was  a  labor  greater  than 
has  made  the  fame  and  fortune,  too,  of  many  authors 
of  our  day. 

And  his  invaluable  tract  of  twenty-four  well-filled 
pages  on  the  two  Tract  societies  after  the  separation, 
and  their  relations  towards  each  other,  should  have  cov 
ered  with  blushes  of  shame  the  faces  of  all  who  pre 
tended  to  anti-slavery  character,  only  in  consideration 
of  such  repentance  and  reformation  as  that  fully  and 
faithfully  disclosed.  The  dissenters  were  numerous, 
and  doubtless  many  were  earnest  and  sincere.  Thirty 
auxiliary  bodies,  thirteen  being  states,  or  their  equiv 
alent,  could  not  all  have  been  pretended.  But  we 
shall  see  into  what  they  were  led,  and  out  of  what  they 
unfortunately  were  not  led.  They  did  at  last  compel 
the  parent  society  to  lend  an  ear  to  their  petitions 
and  protests,  and  a  committee  of  fifteen,  ten  being 
ministers,  and  nearly  all  well-known  friends  of  the 
society  and  approvers  of  its  former  unrighteous  courses, 


458  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

was  appointed  to  make  inquiry  and  investigation  into 
what  too  many  already  knew.  And  all  who  did  know 
should  have  been  ashamed. 

Subsequently  that  committee  reported  to  this  effect  : 

Resolved,  That  the  action  of  the  executive,  as  re 
ported,  be  approved. 

A  long  debate  ensued.  Various  substitutes'  and 
amendments  were  offered  and  rejected,  and  finally 
the  original  resolution,  which  was  presented  by  Bishop 
Mcllvaine,  was  adopted,  by  a  vote  of  the  great  major 
ity  of  the  members  and  directors  present. 

And  immediately  following  this  action  of  entire  ap 
proval  of  their  former  course,  in  the  completest  pos 
sible  manner,  the  whole  board  of  officers  was  re- 
elected  : 

And  now  the  question  is  as  to  the  course  of  the  re 
monstrants,  "  Thirty  auxiliary  bodies  in  all,  thirteen 
of  them  representing  states  or  other  large  districts." 

Their  first  resolution  at  their  meeting  in  Boston 
directed  the  executive  committee  to  report  next  year 
on  "the  expendiency  of  dissolving  the  connection  be 
tween  this  society  and  the  National  Society  at  New 
York."  No  hurry,  it  seems.  "  Next  year  "  will  do. 
And  then  the  inquiry  will  only  be  as  to  "  the  expedi 
ency  "  of  the  step.  And  now  for  their  fourth  resolu 
tion  to  this  purport  : 

Resolved,  That  we  entertain  the  highest  respect  for 
the  wisdom,  judgment  and  sincerity  of  the  special  com 
mittee  of  fifteen,  appointed  by  the  American  Tract 
Society  of  New  York,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  1856, 
and  do  heartily  adopt  the  resolutions  reported  by 
them,  and  declare  our  purpose  to  carry  into  effect  the 
principles  embraced  in  those  resolutions. 

Why  not  then  have  held-  their  peace  and  kept  to 
their  work  ?  Entertaining  "  the  highest  respect  for 
the  wisdom,  judgment  and  sincerity  of  that  committee 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  459 

of  fifteen,"  why  not  have  let  them  alone  ?  How  would 
that  committee  have  looked  turning  round  and  pass 
ing  a  like  admiration  "for  the  wisdom,  judgment  and 
sincerity,"  especially  sincerity  of  those  dissenters  ? 
But  to  give  facts,  not  comments  on  them,  is  our  pres 
ent  business. 

Here  is  another  of  the  declarative  resolutions  of  the 
disaffected  : 

Resolved,  That  the  political  aspects  of  slavery  lie 
entirely  without  the  proper  sphere  of  this  society  and 
cannot  be  discussed  in  its  publications  ;  but  that  those 
moral  duties  which  grow  out  of  its  existence,  as  well 
as  those  moral  evils  which  it  is  known  to  promote,, 
and  which  are  condemned  in  scripture,  and  so  much 
deplored  by  evangelical  Christians,  do  undoubtedly 
fall  within  the  province  of  this  society,  and  can  and 
should  be  discussed  in  a  fraternal  and  Christian  spirit. 

One  more  quotation  will  be  sufficient,  and  more  than 
sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  this  work. 

Passing  over  much  which  might  be  cited  from  this 
annual  report  of  the  Boston  society,  [its  forty-fourth] 
take  the  following  from  the  official  "  Address  of  the 
executive  committee  to  the  friends  of  the  society,  in 
the  following  July,  a  few  weeks  after  their  anniversary. 
They  say  : 

It  may  be  well  to  state  that  the  organic  relations  of 
this  society  to  the  New  York  society  have  not  been 
materially  changed  by  the  above  resolutions.  This 
society  may  therefore  be  made  the  channel  for  the 
contributions  of  all  persons  who,  for  any  reason,  may 
prefer  our  position  or  our  policy  to  that  of  the  other 
society.  We  invite  no  separation  from 

that  society,  but  under  present  circumstances  we  be 
lieve  the  greatest  amount  of  good  will  be  done  by  each 
society  occupying  the  whole  country  as  its  field.  We 
are  not  an  anti-slavery  society,  but  simply  a  religious 
tract  society.  We  earnestly  entreat  the  churches  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  no  longer  to  permit  this  im- 


460  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

portant  enterprise  to  decline  because  of  divers  views 
on  the  various  questions  arising  out  of  the  slave  sys 
tem,  the  time  and  occasion  for  that  having  passed  ;  as 
two  societies  now  offer  their  facilities  for  conveying 
the  gospel  of  Christ  in  this  form  to  those  whoso  much 
need  that  gospel. 

And  this  voluminous  and  tedious  testimony  is  but 
a  specimen  of  what  might  be  adduced  ;  and  to  what  then 
do  all  these  confessions  amount  ?  In  the  first  place 
the  new  association  of  dissenters  declares  in  so  many 
words,  "  We  are  not  an  anti-slavery  society,  but  sim 
ply  a  religious  tract  society."  Only  that,  and  nothing 
more.  And  what  was  the  New  York  Society,  but  just 
that,  and  nothing  less  ? 

Another  confession  is  :  "  The  organic  relations  of 
this  society  to  the  New  York,  have  not  been  materially 
changed."  And  another  :  "  We  invite  no  separation 
from  the  New  York  society."  And  this  one  more, 
most  remarkable  of  all,  explaining  why  neither  is,  nor 
should  be  an  anti-slavery  society,  nor  pretend  to  be  ; 
as  it  is  only  "certain  moral  duties  which  grow  out  of 
the  existence  of  slavery,  as  well  as  those  moral  evils 
which  it  is  known  to  promote,  that  lie  within  our 
proper  sphere."  What  is  this  but  flat  denial  that  sla 
very  in  itself  is  sin  at  all  ?  Drunkenness,  in  itself,  is 
no  evil.  Is  it?  Nor  adultery,  any  more  than  mar 
riage.  Is  it  ? 

The  old  tract  society  published  testimonies  solemn 
as  judgment,  heaven  and  hell,  against  intemperance, 
novel-reading,  card-playing,  horse-racing,  theater 
going,  and  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco.  But  to  de 
grade  men  and  women  to  brute  beasts,  goods  and 
chattels,  and  then  treat  them  accordingly,  as  did  the 
Bible  and  tract  societies,  not  counting  them  as  families 
at  all,  that  was  no  sin.  Both  societies  proposed  to 
supply  states  or  counties,  cities  or  towns,  as  the  case 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  461 

might  be,  with  their  works,  "  every  family  willing  to 
receive  them."  And  reported  every  family  so  sup 
plied,  when  they  knew,  and  everybody  knew,  that  to 
sell  or  give  a  Bible  or  tract  to  any  slave,  and  in  some 
states,  to  any  free  person  of  color,  was  a  penal  offense 
and  sure  to  be  sorely  punished  by  the  statute  law! 
The  old  society  knew  it  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
new,  and  trusted  it  accordingly.  Dr.  Nehemiah 
Adams,  of  Boston,  had  published  two  volumes  of  most 
unblushing  vindication  of  slavery,  one  of  over  two 
hundred,  the  other  almost  three  hundred  pages,  and 
he  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential 
officers  in  the  publication  department  of  the  tract 
society,  and  never  endangered  the  sale  of  his  works 
by  printing  tracts  or  protests  against  his  favorite  in 
stitution.  The  declared  object  of  the  tract  society  is, 
in  part  :  "To  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  as  the  redeemer  of  sinners,  and  to  pro 
mote  the  interests  of  vital  godliness  and  sound 
morality." 

And  it  was  no  violation  of  "sound  morality"  to 
establish,  support  and  sanctify,  generation  after  gen 
eration,  a  slave  system,  that  converted  every  slave 
cabin  into  a  brothel  of  prostitution,  or  a  hovel  or  sty 
of  beasts,  where  marriage  and  parentage  were  un 
known,  not  one  marriage  of  all  the  millions  of  slaves 
ever  sanctioned  by  law,  not  one  mother  ever  made 
legally  secure  for  one  hour  in  the  possession  of  her 
babe  ;  no,  not  one  !  Not  one  slave  girl,  no  matter  how 
beautiful,  had  the  slightest  protection  for  her  virtue, 
though  dearer  to  her,  as  was  thousands  of  times 
proved,  than  life  ;  no,  not  one  !  The  whole  slave 
code  was  declared  in  one  terse  utterance  : 

"  If  any  slave  shall  presume  to  strike  any  white 
person,  such  slave  may  be  lawfully  killed."  Killed, 
of  course,  on  the  spot ! 


462  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

In  all  this,  there  was  no  outrage  on  "  sound  moral 
ity,"  nor  "vital  godliness,"  in  tract  society  estimation  ; 
in  one  society,  more  or  less,  than  in  the  other.  "  We 
are  not  an  anti-slavery  society."  No,  truly  not.  You 
need  not  have  said  it. 

Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  Babylonians  and 
Cyprians  had  a  law  or  custom,  compelling  every 
woman,  once  in  her  life,  to  visit  the  temple  of  Venus, 
and  prostitute  herself  to  the  honor  of  that  unclean 
divinity.  But  Babylonians  and  Cyprians  were  not 
Christians.  They  were  not  even  Jews.  They  were 
pagans.  And  then,  their  women  need  go  there  but 
once.  The  slave  girl  or  woman  never  went  anywhere 
else.  "Vital  godliness,"  and  "sound  morality,"  in 
Bible  and  tract  society  sense,  sent  her  there,  kept  her 
there  all  her  life,  and  the  people,  excepting  a  few  abo 
litionists,  said  amen  and  amen.  The  great  ecclesias 
tical  organizations  wielded  a  power  in  shaping  and 
controlling  their  character  and  destiny,  second  only  to 
omnipotence.  The  commission  of  the  faithful,  un 
compromising  abolitionists,  was  unmistakable  :  "Go 
and  speak  my  words  unto  them,  whether  they  will  hear 
or  whether  they  will  forbear.  And  they, 

whether  they  will  hear  or  whether  they  will  forbear, 
(for  they  are  a  rebellious  house),  yet  shall  they  know 
that  there  hath  been  a  prophet  among  them."  And 
the  faithful  among  them  spoke  that  divinely  inspired 
word,  crying  aloud  and  sparing  not,  showing  the 
southern  slave-holder  his  transgressions,  and  his 
northern  abettor  and  apologist  his  sins,  till  the  dying 
agonies  of  Bull  Run  and  over  a  thousand  other  bat 
tles  and  bloody  encounters,  answered  for  them,  mag 
nified  and  made  honorable  their  ministrations,  and 
showed  to  the  whole  world  that  there  was  yet  a  God 
in  Israel  ! 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  463 

THE    FUGITIVE    SLAVE    LAW. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  work  allusions  were  made 
to  that  "bill  of  abomination,"  known  as  the  fugitive 
slave  law  of  1850.  That  law  was  often  executed,  and 
sometimes  in  Boston,  with  peculiar  atrocities  and  ag 
gravations,  the  navy  yard  near  by,  furnishing  ample 
facilities  for  the  necessary  military  force.  Once,  how 
ever,  troops  were  ordered  from  the  interior  of  Massa 
chusetts,  and  quartered  in  Faneuil  hall,  till  the  poor 
victim  was  sent  back  to  his  whipping  post  and  brand 
ing-iron.  Honest  men  and  women  were  beggared  by 
imprisonments  and  heavy  fines,  for  harboring  and 
concealing,  or  refusing  to  aid  in  the  blood-hound 
work  of  pursuing  and  capturing  fugitive  slave  men 
and  women  in  their  nightly  flight  to  Canada.  Massa 
chusetts  pulpits,  even  Andover  theological  seminary, 
ably  defended  the  diabolical  business.  On  the  yth 
of  March,  1850,  Daniel  Webster  nearly  stunned,  not 
only  his  constituency,  but  the  whole  north,  by  his 
speech  in  the  United  States  senate,  in  advocacy  of 
that  direful  enactment.  The  old  federal  and  whig 
party  succession  of  Massachusetts,  had  bowed  low 
and  long  to  the  despotic  slave  power  before.  All  the 
compromises  in  the  constitution  had  been  exacted  and 
enforced,  unrighteous  and  unjust  as  all  of  them  were, 
from  the  first.  Then,  even  against  constitutional  re 
striction,  Florida  and  Louisiana  had  been  purchased 
for  slave  states.  The  Seminole  and  Mexican  wars 
ensued,  as  a  first  consequence,  continuing  on  through 
a  dozen  years  and  more,  all  "  red  with  uncommon 
wrath,"  in  many  of  the  atrocities  perpetrated  on  the 
poor  Indians  ;  but  now  new  vials  of  slave-holding  in 
dignation,  as  well  as  power,  were  to  be  uncorked  upon 
the  north.  The  people  of  the  northern  states  had 
loner  violated  the  solemn  command  to  "  remember 


464  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

them  that  were  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them,"  and 
now  a  stern  decree  came  up  from  the  slave  power,  to 
go  and  be  bound  with  them  in  chains  more  ignoble  than 
the  shackles  of  the  slaves  themselves  !  Robert 
Toombs,  of  Georgia,  had  prophesied  that  he  would  yet 
"call  the  roll  of  his  slaves  on  Bunker  hill."  And  now 
he  did  so,  and  in  Faneuil  hall  as  well  !  Slaves  armed 
to  protect  the  lordly  slave-holder  in  recapturing,  in 
Boston  streets,  their  fellow  slaves,  who  had  been  at 
least  brave  enough  to  attempt  escape  to  Canada,  land 
of  kings  and  queens,  where  they  could  be  free  ! 

So  was  it  when  Professor  Stuart  sat  down  in  the 
sacred  shades  of  Andover,  and  wrote  a  work  all  ablaze 
with  blasphemy  against  liberty,  entitled,  "  Conscience 
and  the  Constitution,  with  remarks  on  the  recent 
speech  of  Daniel  Webster,  in  the  senate  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  subject  of  slavery  ;  "  a  work  in  large  oc 
tavo,  of  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  pages.  It  was 
not  the  first  time  the  venerable  professor  had  drawn 
his  pen  in  defense  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Webster,  in  some 
of  his  official  acts,  as  the  history  of  the  Tyler  admin 
istration  revealed. 

From  Professor  Stuart's  hundred  and  eighteen 
pages,  less  than  one  will  here  be  given,  the  first  part 
bearing  directly  on  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  On 
page  sixty,  he  asks  : 

WThat,  now,  have  we  here  ?  Paul  sending  back  a 
Christian  servant,  who  had  run  away  from  his  Christian 
master.  *  *  *  He  enjoins  it  upon  Onesimus 
to  return  to  his  master  forever.  This  last  phrase  has 
respect  to  the  fact  that  Paul  supposed  that  the  sense 
of  Christian  obligation  which  was  now  entertained  by 
Onesimus,  would  prevent  him  from  ever  repeating  the 
offense.  And  all  this,  too,  when  Philemon,  being  an 
active  and  zealous  Christian,  would  in  a  moment  have 
submitted  to  any  command  of  Paul,  respecting  Ones 
imus.  Why,  then,  did  Paul  send  him  back  ?  There 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  465 

is  only  one  answer  to  be  given,  viz.,  that  Paul's  Chris 
tian  conscience  would  not  permit  him  to  injure  the 
vested  rights  of  Philemon.  *  *  *  Paul's  con 
science  sent  back  the  fugitive  slave  ;  Paul's  conscience, 
then,  like  his  doctrines,  was  very  different  from  that 
of  the  abolitionists.  Theirs,  encourages  him  to  run 
away,  and  then  protects  him  in  the  misdeed.  The 
conscience  of  Paul  sends  him  back  the  fugitive  with 
out  any  obligation  at  all  on  the  ground  of  compact ; 
theirs,  encourages  and  protects  his  escape,  in  the  face 
of  the  most  solemn  national  compact.  And  all  this 
for  conscience's  sake. 

Some  of  the  states,  Massachusetts  among  them,  had 
enacted  state  laws  or  measures,  contravening  in  some 
respects,  the  demands  of  the  slave  law.  On  that  sub 
ject,  Professor  Stuart  wrote:  "To  the  position  our 
honored  legislature  in  their  recent  resolves,  viz.: 
That  the  case  of  the  fugitive  shall  be  tried  'by 
jury,  in  the  state  where  the  claim  is  made,'  /  am  un 
able,  highly  as  I  respect  their  motives,  to  yield  my  as 
sent." 

And,  in  summing  up,  the  professor  says,  and  this 
closes  the  citations  from  him : 

I  have  done  with  this  subject.  The  brief  result,  as 
it  strikes  my  mind,  is,  that  the  Constitution  in  respect 
to  fugitives  held  to  service  or  labor,  must  be  obeyed.  It 
is  useless  to  talk  about  conscience  as  setting  it  aside.  It 
is  an  imputation  on  the  men  who  formed  our  govern 
ment.  It  is  holding  them  up  to  the  world  as  having 
neither  justice  nor  humanity. 

In  these  extracts  the  italicizing  and  capitalizing  are 
the  professor's  own.  Let  them  speak  for  themselves. 
I  will  only  say,  they  are  but  samples  of  his  whole 
work. 

President,  Nathan  Lord,  D.  D.,  of  Dartmouth  Col 
lege,  soon  after  the  appearance  of  "  Conscience  and  the 
Constitution,"  wrote  to  the  author,  Professor  Stuart,  a 
reply  in  a  pamphlet  letter  of  two  and  forty  pages 


466  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

octavo,  correcting,  not  the  doctrine,  or  morality  of  his 
work,  but  some  statements  of  fact  relating  to  Puritan 
history  and  slavery.  Professor  Stuart  wrote  on  page 
109  :  "  In  looking  back  on  the  history  of  slavery  in 
our  country,  whence  do  we  find  it  to  have  originated  ! 
From  Great  Britain,  and  from  her  alone  ;  all  the  colo 
nies  fought  pitched  battles  against  it ;  but  the  king 
and  parliament  defeated  them.  North  and  south  were 
united  on  this  question — united  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  united  for  a  long  time  after  it." 

These  statements  of  the  learned  Professor,  the 
more  learned  President  Lord  refutes  in  masterly  man 
ner  ;  he  shows  that  slavery  existed  in  all  the  British 
colonies  with  exception  of  Georgia  for  a  short  time 
and  with  a  power  of  erudition  and  argument  proves  it, 
and  apparently,  approves  it  too.  He  even  implicates 
the  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania 
Quakers  with  the  rest.  The  President  says  : 

A  foggy  sort  of  notion  is  beginning  to  prevail,  that 
from  their  origin,  at  any  rate  from  their  settlement  in 
this  country  under  William  Penn,  the  Quakers  as  a 
denomination,  have  been  opposed  to  slavery.  This 
position  if  true,  would  only  prove  that  among  many 
wild  and  visionary  theories  which  distinguish  them 
as  a  sect,  they  adopted  that  of  abolition.  But  the 
notion  is  not  true  ;  opposition  to  slavery  sprang  up 
among  them  at  a  comparatively  recent  date.  William 
Penn  lived  and  died  a  slave  owner.  There  is  a  letter 
on  record  from  T.  Matlack,  an  aged  Friend,  to  William 
Findlay,  which  gives  account  of  the  rise  and  progress 
of  this  idea  among  them.  The  letter  says  : 

The  practice  of  slave-keeping  in  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania,  commenced  with  the  first  settlement  of 
the  province,  and  certainly  was  countenanced  by 
William  Penn.  *  Penn  left  a  family 

of  slaves  behind  him.  *  *  Slave-keeping 

of  course,  became  general  among  Friends. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  467 

President  Lord  says  Penn  attempted  to  legislate, 
not  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but  for  the  sanctity  of 
marriage  among  slaves,  and  for  their  personal  safety  ; 
but  he  also  declares,  "  there  is  no  more  reason  to  sup 
pose  George  Fox  was  an  abolitionist,  than  that 
Governor  Winthrop  was  an  abolitionist.  And  by 
Rees's  Cyclopedia,  by  Sir  Edward  Coke,  Sir  William 
Temple  and  Lord  Campbell,  he  establishes  the  fact  of 
practical  slave-holding  and  slave-trading,  and  shows 
that  slaves  could  neither  acquire  nor  hold  any  property 
in  land  nor  goods,  and  children  always  followed  the 
condition  of  the  parents  ;  and  further,  that  the 
renowned  Sir  John  Hawkins  first  opened  and  estab 
lished  the  African  slave  trade  with  Queen  Elizabeth,  a 
ready  accomplice.  So  President  Lord  argues  that  it 
was  natural  and  reasonable  that  Puritans  in  the  colon 
ies  should  hold  and  trade  in  slaves  as  they  did,  even 
"  branding  them  on  the  shoulder"  and  exporting  cargoes 
of  their  Indian  prisoners  to  the  West  Indies.  At  the 
close  of  King  Philip's  war,  he  says,  "  a  great  many  of 
the  chiefs  were  executed  in  Boston  and  Plymouth,  and 
most  of  the  rest  of  the  prisoners  were  shipped  for 
slaves  to  the  Bermudas  and  other  parts."  This, 
he  says,  and  truly,  u  was  an  affair  of  state."  And 
then  whole  pages  more,  which  must  not  only  have 
enlightened  the  mind  of  Professor  Stuart,  but  greatly 
gladdened  his  heart;  as  showing  that  even  the  Puri 
tans,  always  regarded  as  only  very  little,  if  any,  lower 
than  the  angels,  were  not  only  slave-breeders,  and 
traders,  but  exalted  the  red  hot  branding-iron  as  part 
of  the  paraphernalia  of  the  diabolical  business. 

President  Lord's  own  estimate  of  slavery  is  directly 
given  in  two  other  pamphlets,  now  on  my  table,  beside 
the  long  letter  to  Professor  Stuart.  In  one,  entitled 
"A  True  Picture  of  Abolition,"  he  says  (page  8,  9)  : 


468  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

The  south  is  slave-holding.  It  is  so  constitutionally 
and  legally.  Slavery  enters  into  the  structure  of  its 
society,  not  a  thing  of  accident,  possibly  not  every 
where  of  preference,  but  an  inheritance  according  to 
the  common  law  of  earth  ;  a  providential  order,  with 
out  which,  in  view  of  necessarily,  that  is  naturally  and 
statedly  existing  diversities  of  race,  culture  and  con 
dition,  the  social  state  could  not  have  been  constitu 
ted  at  all,  and  "  life,  liberty  and  happiness  "  would 
have  been  insecure  to  a  Christian  people,  who  had 
just  bought  them  at  so  great  a  price.  Slavery  was  not, 
indeed,  the  cornerstone,  but  the  practical  condition  of 
the  Union,  the  constitution  and  the  laws.  * 

It  had  existed  in  the  usages  of  nations.  It  was 
common  law  ;  it  was  incorporated  into  the  civil  insti 
tutions  of  Moses  ;  it  was  recognized  accordingly  by 
Christ  and  His  apostles.  They  regulated  it  by  the 
just  and  benevolent  principles  of  the  New  Testament. 
They  condemned  all  intermeddlers  with  it.  * 

Wherever  it  was  subsequently  abolished  its  want  of 
physical  adaptation  and  consequent  inconveniences, 
not  its  essential  wrongfulness,  were  mainly  the  reasons 
for  its  abolition. 

On  page  ten  the  president  continues  : 

So  it  stood  till  a  generation  arose  that  comprehended 
none  of  these  living  realities  ;  that  honored  not  God 
and  the  Father,  and  for  His  everlasting  word  of 
natural  and  revealed  religion,  substituted  a  higher  law. 
Among  them  were  born  the  abolitionists,  who  are  now, 
officially,  supreme  over  the  land.  They  were  at  first 
a  small  class  of  speculative  enthusiasts,  intoxicated  by 
the  airy  pantheism  of  France  and  Germany,  which 
had  covertly  breathed  its  spirit  into  the  "glittering 
generalities"  of  the  Declaratien  of  Independence,  and 
by  that  instrument  insensibly  affected  the  public  mind. 
They  were  men  of  no  mark  nor  figure  ;  inflated  vis 
ionaries,  mistaking  their  own  fancies  for  another  gos 
pel,  which  is  not  another. 

With  almost  two  pages  octavo  of  similar  if  not 
even  worse. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  469 

Of  the  doings  in  congress  he  wrote  :  "  Calhoun  and 
Webster  at  the  head,  or  such  men  as  Brooks  (Bully 
Brooks)  and  Sumner  at  the  tail,  could  never  have  con 
tended  greatly  to  the  public  detriment,  till  congress 
let  in  subjects  of  discussion  which  concerned  more 
immediately  the  government  of  gods.  That  was  our 
original  mistake.  *  *  Common  mistake  of  all  coun 
tries,  as  virtue  declines.  *  *  *  Till  we  made  that 
blunder  the  country  was  united,  prosperous  and  happy. 
There  had  been  no  such  instance  in  the  history  of  the 
world." 

One  quotation  more.  Would  that  space  and  patience 
of  readers,  would  permit  insertion  of  the  whole  pam 
phlet.  On  pages  twelve  and  onward  the  president 
proceeds  : 

Abolitionism  became  an  institution,  organic  and 
vital,  body  and  soul  ;  a  working  power.  It  was  en 
vious  at  God's  appointed  orders.  It  labelled  the  con 
stitution,  "  A  covenant  with  death,  an  agreement  with 
hell."  *  *  Gaining  confidence  as  it  acquired 
.ascendency  over  the  simple,  the  curious,  the  fearful, 
the  imaginative,  the  undisciplined,  the  dispassionate, 
it  aspired  to  popular  control  and  revolutionary 
distinction.  But  to  that  end  it  must  become  re 
ligious.  It  was  ready  for  the  occasion. 
It  appealed  to  scripture,  now  twisted  by  improved  ver 
sions,  arbitrary  criticisms  and  fantastic  commentaries 
from  its  literal,  direct  and  scientific  meanings,  till  it 
was  made  as  subservient  and  as  obscure  as  a  Delphic 
oracle.  *  To  the  same  end  it  must  also 

be  political.  It  affected  the  well-being  of  the  state. 
It  studied  intrigue  and  finesse.  It  became  an  expert. 
It  disciplined  its  ranks.  It  found  the  balance  of  party 
power  and  then  sold  itself  to  the  progressive  party. 
The  price  was  the  government  of  the  country.  The 
object  was  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  then  the 
introduction  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  *  Such 

is  the  moral  record  of  abolitionism,  brought  down  to 
the  date  of  presidential  proclamations. 


47°  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

So  we  speak,  for  so  we  make  good  our  cause.  Aboli 
tionism  is  at  fault.  It  is  false  and  wrong.  It  destroys 
the  ancient  landmarks.  It  obliterates  the  old  paths. 
It  puts  its  heel  on  constitutional  relations.  It  sunders 
what  God  has  united,  and  unites  what  God  had  sun 
dered. 

So  much,  and  surely  very  much,  for  Nathan  Lord? 
D.  D.,  president  of  Dartmouth  college.  Readers  may 
remember,  about  the  college  mob  we  had  there  twenty 
years  before  this  pamphlet  was  written.  For  this  did 
not  appear  till  1863.  This  was  penned  amid  the  bat 
tle  thunders  and  dying  shrieks  and  groans  of  the  war 
of  the  rebellion — over  the  graves  of  thousands  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  already  dead  !  With  such 
presidents  of  colleges  as  Dr.  Lord,  and  such  theolog 
ical  professors  as  Moses  Stuart,  what  wonder  that  we 
had  our  pro-slavery  riot  and  tumult  at  Dartmouth  ! 
What  wonder  that  we  had  such  general  assemblies  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  !  And  such  missionary,  Bible 
and  tract  societies  !  And  what  wonder  that  slavery, 
with  its  inevitable  attendant  horrors,  so  supported,  so 
sanctified,  continued  so  long  ! 

But  to  return  to  the  fugitive  slave  law  and  its  eccle 
siastical  sanctification.  The  two  volumes  of  Dr. 
Adams,  of  Essex-street  church,  Boston,  published  in 
1854,  and  1861,  are  before  me.  The  whole  soul  and 
spirit  of  them  both  is  summed  up  in  these  few  words, 
in  the  volume  of  1851,  and  with  these  few,  readers 
will  be  glad  to  have  done  with  them  : 

*'  Unless  we  choose  to  live  in  a  perpetual  state  of 
war,  we  must  prevent  and  punish  all  attempts  to  de 
coy  slaves  from  their  masters.  Whatever  our  repug 
nance  to  slavery  may  be,  there  is  a  law  of  the  land, 
a  constitution  to  which  we  must  submit,  or  employ 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  471 

suitable  means  to  change  it.  While  it  remains,  all  our 
appeals  to  a  higher  law  are  fanaticism." 

And  Dr. .  Adams  was,  for  many  years,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  publication  committee  of  the  American 
tract  society. 

The  last  fugitive  slave  bill  was  signed  by  acting 
President  Millard  Fillmore,  and  became  a  law,  Sep 
tember  1 8th,  1850.  Its  execution  soon  began,  but, 
everywhere,  was  attended  with  difficulties  ;  was  some 
times  resisted  even  unto  blood.  The  pulpit  soon 
came  to  the  rescue  ;  Boston  sure  to  be  in  the  van. 

On  the  first  Thanksgiving  day,  Dr.  Sharp,  of  the 
Baptist  church,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Rogers,  of  the  Congre 
gational,  gave  each  a  sermon,  which  was  subsequently 
printed,  from  which  a  few  extracts  will  now  be  given. 
Of  the  Essex-street  pastor,  Dr.  Adams,  nothing  neect 
be  adduced  after  the  passage  from  his  South-side  view 
of  Slavery,"  just  presented. 

Dr.  Sharp  said  : 

It  is  our  duty  to  submit  to  the  government  extend 
ing  over  the  region  in  which  we  dwell,  and  to  obey 
the  magistrates  under  whose  jurisdiction  we  are.  The 
condition  of  our  obedience  is,  that  they  who  claim  to 
govern  us,  have  legal  authority  for  doing  do.  With 
these  facts  well  established,  our  obedience  is  not  to  be 
measured  and  graduated  by  our  estimation  of  the 
wisdom  or  folly  of  the  laws  under  which  we  live  ; 
their  partiality  or  impartiality,  their  justice  or  injus 
tice.  With  one  exception,  while  any  given  law  exists, 
although  it  may  operate  upon  our  interests  unjustly 
and  oppressively,  we  must,  nevertheless,  submit 
to  it. 

*  *  To  bring  this  subject  nearer 

home,  let  us  consider  the  duty  of  subjection  to 
the  powers  that  be,  as  applicable  to  the  fugitive  slave 
law.  And  in  what  I  would  say,  I  would  have  it  un 
derstood  that  I  discriminate  between  slavery  and  mul 
titudes  of  excellent  persons  who  hold  slaves.  Before 


472  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

the  colonies  became  independent,  or  the  union  of  the 
states  was  formed,  slavery,  that  system  of  injustice, 
oppression  and  wrong  (as  it  appears  to  me),  was  so 
interwoven  with  all  the  habits,  interests  and  worldly 
hopes  of  the  people  at  the  south,  that  they  had  not 
the  courage,  the  faith,  the  disinterestedness,  to  set  the 
slaves  free.  And  yet  they  feared  that  their  slaves, 
hearing  of  the  freedom  of  their  own  race  in  other 
states,  would  attempt  to  escape.  The  southern  mem 
bers,  therefore,  of  the  convention  that  framed  the  na 
tional  compact  called  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  insisted  on  a  clause  securing  the  return  of 
fugitives  from  labor,  on  legal  evidence  of  the  fact 
being  presented.  This  engagement  became  part  of 
the  constitution.  I  regret  its  existence,  but  there  it 
is.  *  *  * 

The  question   then  arises,   are 

you  willing  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  great  national 
compact,  but  to  violate  its  conditions?  How  much 
there  would  be  of  high-mindedness  in  such  a  course, 
I  leave  it  to  you  to  determine.  *  * 

Much   less  can  the  free  citizens 

of  the  United  States,  living  under  the  protection,  and 
enjoying  the  benefits  of  our  blessed  laws,  with  all  the 
advantages  of  the  national  compact,  be  justified  in 
encouraging  poor  fugitive  slaves  to  acts  of  resistance, 
in  putting  forth  the  fist,  or  unsheathing  the  sword  of 
rebellion.  In  this  state,  world-wide  renowned  for  its 
steady  habits,  no  one  should  allow  himself  to  have  the 
hardihood  and  unseemliness  to  say  that  a  law  of  con 
gress  cannot  be  here  enforced. 

*  Our  country,  extending  from  the 

Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  having  a  coast  and  an  interior 
unparalleled  in  the  world's  history,  is  the  new  Canaan, 
the  land  of  promise,  to  which  the  poor  and  the  tax- 
ridden,  and  they  who  have  yet  something  left,  are 
coming  from  the  decaying  institutions  and  over-stocked 
millions  of  older  lands.  But  it  will  be  a  Canaan  no 
longer  than  we  prize  the  union,  revere  the  constitu 
tion,  and  obey  the  laws,  wise  or  unwise,  right  or  wrong, 
until  we  can  modify  or  change  them  from  unwisdom 
to  wisdom,  from  wrong  to  right,  by  the  only  process 
that  is  justifiable,  the  process  of  legislation. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  473 

So  held  and  taught  Dr.  Sharp.  It  is  easy  to  re 
member,  if  hard  to  accept  the  words  of  those  brave 
men,  who,  eighteen  hundred  years  before,  had  said  : 
"Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God,  to  hearken 
unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge  ye  ?" 

But  Dr.  Sharp  held  with  Dr.  Adams,  that  "  appeal 
to  any  higher  law  than  the  constitution,  while  that  was 
in  force,  toss  fanaticism  /  " 

But  we  must  hasten  to  Mr.  Rogers,  of  the  Winter- 
street  Congregational  church  : 

Within  the  limits  of  this  broad  land,  the  citizen  of 
the  United  States  is  everywhere  at  home  ;  the  soil  of 
his  country  beneath  his  feet,  the  flag  of  his  country 
above  him,  and  the  protection  of  its  laws  around  him, 
he  is  nowhere  an  alien  and  a  stranger  in  this  common 
wealth  of  our  Israel.  *  *  *  And  yet 
with  peace  in  our  borders,  with  plenty  in  our  store, 
with  every  privilege  and  opportunity  open  to  all  men 
for  development  of  mind,  for  appreciation  of  all  the 
benefits  pertaining  to  air,  to  earth,  to  sea  ;  and  yet 
with  all  of  good  we  have,  and  can  have,  there  are  dif 
ferences  among  us  :  there  are  dissensions  ;  and  bitter 
words  are  uttered,  and  bitter  words  are  retorted,  and 
men  speak  of  resistance  to  law  ;  some  men  speak  of 
the  nullification  of  the  constitution.  Men  speak  of 
disunion,  horrible  as  it  is,  and  it  has  thrilled  every 
nerve  in  my  soul  !  Horrible  as  it  is,  these  words 
have  become  as  familiar  as  household  words.  It  has 
been  proclaimed  :  "  Law  or  no  law,  constitution  or  no 
constitution,  the  hands  of  the  law  and  of  the  people 
should  not  execute  the  behests  of  the  court,  within 
the  precincts  of  this  commonwealth. 

It  is  one  of  the  articles  of  the  constitution,  that  a 
person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state  under  the 
laws  thereof,  shall  be  delivered  up  on  the  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  labor  is  due  ;  I  say  that  it  is  one 
of  the  articles  of  the  constitution  ;  for  you  might 
readily  gather  from  the  popular  cry,  and  from  the 
tendency  of  the  popular  feeling,  that  the  whole  of  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  was  nothing  but  an 


474  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

instrument  for  the  oppression  of  the  slave,  in  utter 
forgetfulness  of  every  other  right  and  every  other  duty. 
It  is  one  of  the  articles  of  that  constitution  ;  being  one 
of  the  articles  of  that  constitution,  then  I  gather  that 
whatsoever  party  is  in  power,  it  makes  no  difference 
what  the  name,  what  the  principles  they  affirm  before 
or  after  election,  whatever  party  is  in  power,  in  their 
place  in  congress,  if  there  were  no  law  already  made, 
pursuant  to  this  article  of  the  constitution,  they  would 
be  bound  to  make  a  law,  and  a  law  which  should  carry 
out  this  provision  and  restore  the  fugitive  to  the  claim 
ant  upon  due  proof  of  that  claim  and  that  service  to 
be  rendered  in  another  state. 

Do  you  say,  no  ?  do  you  say  that  it  would  be  wrong  ? 
that  it  is  sinful,  thus  to  do  ?  but  I  ask  you  to  consider 
as  an  honest  man,  with  a  consciousness  that  your  rep 
resentative  had  called  the  God  of  heaven  to  witness 
that  he  will  maintain  the  constitution  of  these  United 
States,  would  you  have  him  perjure  himself  and  refuse 
to  carry  out  the  constitution  ?  Leave  it  to  an  infidel 
Christianity  to  teach  such  morals,  but  when  you  ask 
counsel  of  God,  expect  no  such  answer.  * 

*  The  fugitive  asks  us  to  interpose  ;  when  he 
does  so  he  asks  us  to  do  what  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  or  a  majority  of  them,  have  said  we 
shall  not  do  ;  he  asks  us  to  do  precisely  what  we  have 
agreed  not  to  do.  We  are  under  bonds  to  the  millions 
of  this  country  to  keep  the  peace,  and  to  make  this  a 
government  of  law,  and  not  a  government  of  force. 
Oh,  it  is  a  miserable  alternative  in  which  we  are  placed 
by  the  mistakes,  by  the  guilt  of  our  fathers  beyond  the 
waters,  in  bringing  this  curse  upon  us,  and  leaving  us 
to  decide  between  what  seems  the  voice  of  charitv  and 
mercy,  and  a  law  vigorously  severe,  to  which  neverthe 
less  we  must  bow.  If  the  slave  ask  us  to  stand 
between  him  and  the  marshal  armed  with  the  power 
of  the  people,  for  his  arrest,  what  can  we  say  to  him, 
but  make  the  miserable  confession  that  we  have  dis 
possessed  ourselves  of  the  power  to  stand  between 
the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed  ? 

Then  it  follows,  and  should  be  distinctly  understood, 
that  if  a  fugitive  from  bondage  come  to  our  common- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  475 

wealth,  and  abideth  here,  he  does  it  on  his  own  respon 
sibility,  and  does  it  with  a  knowledge  that  those  among 
whom  he  lives,  have  dispossessed  themselves  of  all 
power  under  the  constitution  and  the  law  to  stand 
between  him  and  his  master.  This  we  can  do  for  him, 
but,  when  the  question  is  presented  to  us,  shall  we 
obey  the  law  ?  and  the  answer  is,  nay,  but  resist  it ; 
what  do  we,  but  nullify  the  constitution  of  which  the 
law  is  but  the  practical  working  ?  What  do  we  but 
make  void  the  organic  law  of  the  country  ?  What  do 
we  but  that  which  South  Carolina  has  attempted  in 
the  days  of  her  nullification,  and  seems  likely  to  repeat 
in  this  second  case  of  her  madness  ?  Ah  !  we  said  bit 
ter  things  against  South  Carolina  in  those  days.  We 
told  her  there  were  bayonets  enough  and  men  enough 
in  the  old  Bay  state  to  put  her  in  her  place  and  keep 
her  there.  If  we  were  right  then,  we  are 
wrong  now,  But  it  is  said  we  are  wiser  now 
and  we  may  have  been  right.  Then  the  law  is  a  sin 
against  God,  and  the  constitution  a  law  organic  in  the 
life  of  the  nation.  Well  if  it  be  so,  then  it  seems  to 
me  the  inference  is  very  plain.  This  confederacy 
ought  not  to  exist  an  hour  ;  if  it  be  so,  then  those  men 
who  voted  for  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free 
state  into  this  confederacy,  were  very  wicked  men.  It 
was  voting  the  admission  of  that  commonwealth 
into  a  confederacy  against  the  God  of  heaven. 

But  when  the  slave  asks  me  to  stand  between  him 
and  his  master,  he  asks  me  to  do  something  more  than 
free  him  ;  and  here  is  the  difficulty.  Could  you  sep 
arate  the  question  of  the  slave's  freedom  or  bondage, 
from  those  difficulties  with  which,  under  the  law,  it  is 
involved  ;  would  you  make  it  a  clear  question  here 
upon  this  soil,  whether  he  should  be  a  free  man  or  a 
slave,  there  is  not  a  hand  or  heart  within  the  limits  of 
the  commonwealth,  but  would  go  at  once  for  freedom. 
We  must  be  false  to  our  fathers,  false  to  ourselves  and 
to  the  spirit  breathed  into  the  soul  of  the  word  of 
God,  if  we  could  even  have  any  other  sympathy  than 
sympathy  with  the  oppressed,  against  the  oppressor, 
the  bondman  rather  than  the  bond  master.  But  when 
the  slave  asks  me  to  stand  between  the  marshal  and 


47^  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

himself,  what  does  he  ask  me  to  do  ?  simply  to  free 
him  ?  no,  that  is  not  all  ;  he  asks  me  to  substitute 
force  for  law  ;  anarchy  for  government.  He  asks  me 
to  overturn  the  tribunals  of  justice,  to  break  into  frag 
ments  the  power  of  a  nation  overshadowing  all,  and 
protecting  all.  He  asks  me  to  do  him  right  by  wrong 
ing  twenty  millions  of  men  !  The  question  comes 
home  to  my  soul  ;  I  am  not  at  once  ready  to  answer  ; 
I  pause  ;  I  reflect  ;  I  meditate  ;  if  I  resist  that  law,  I 
nullify  the  constitution  ;  in  doing  it,  I  am  righteously 
held  to  answer  for  all  the  natural  and  proper  conse 
quences  of  my  conduct.  When  the  slave  asks  me  to 
stand  between  him  and  his  master,  what  does  he  ask  ? 
He  asks  me  to  murder  a  nation's  life  ;  and  I  will  not 
do  it,  because  I  have  a  conscience,  and  because  there 
is  a  God. 

Then  I  say  unto  you,  as  a  minister  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  conviction  of  my  conscience  is  that 
upon  the  ground  of  reason,  there  is  no  safety  for  us, 
no  better  hope  for  the  slave,  than  for  the  time,  the 
carrying  out  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  coun 
try  ;  and  that  as  a  question  of  conscience,  God 
requires  this  at  our  hand. 

But  if  the  spirit  of  sedition  and  rebellion  become 
rampant  in  the  land  ;  if  the  ordinary  strength  of  the 
magistracy  cannot  countervail  it,  if  there  be  trea 
son,  if  there  be  rebellion  ;  if  needful,  to  defend  the 
constitution  of  the  fathers,  the  magistracy  call  you 
to  arms,  arm  !  If  they  call  you  to  the  field  of  battle, 
stand  in  your  ranks  as  your  fathers  stood,  shoulder  to 
shoulder  ;  if  to  take  human  life,  take  it ;  and  if  you  fall, 
your  memory  shall  be  hallowed  with  those  whose  bones 
moulder  on  the  slopes  of  Bunker  Hill ! 

Verily,  verily  !  Had  Mr.  Rogers  lived  in  Babylon, 
or  Cyprus,  with  what  alacrity  would  he  have  despatched 
his  daughters  in  all  their  maiden  modesty,  and  virgin 
purity,  to  the  foul  embraces  of  Mylitta's  horrible  rites  ! 
"As  a  minister  of  the  gospel"  he  demanded  "obeying 
the  constitution  and  the  laws." 

This  is  what  he  says.  "  When  my  daughter  asks 
me  to  save  her  from  such  foul  pollution,  what  does 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  477 

she  ask  ?  simply  that  I  save  her  ?  no,  that  is  not  all ; 
she  asks  me  to  substitute  force  for  law  ;  anarchy  for 
government.  I  pause  ;  I  reflect ;  I  meditate.  If  I 
resist  the  law,  I  nullify  the  constitution  !  *  * 

When  my  daughter  asks  me  to  stand  between 
her  and  the  law,  what  does  she  ask  ?  she  asks  me  to 
murder  a  nation's  life  ;  and  I  will  not  do  it,  because 
I  have  a  conscience,  and  because  I  believe  there  is  a 
God  !  " 

And  that  was  Rev.  William  Rogers,  of  Winter  street 
Congregational  church  in  Boston,  in  the  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fiftieth  year  of  Christian  grace  ! 
And  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States,  the 
seventy-fourth  !  Change  only  the  civil  fugitive  slave 
law  for  the  sacred  prostitution  act  of  Babylon  and 
Cyprus,  and  the  parallel  is  complete  ;  is  perfect. 
With  only  this  tremendous  difference  in  favor  of 
Babylon  and  Cyprus  ;  that  there,  one  visit  to  the  tem 
ple  sufficed  forever.  But  return  to  American  slavery, 
under  its  fugitive  law  was  crossing  that  awful  "bridge 
of  sighs,"  over  which  was  inscribed, 

"All  hope  abandon  ye  who  enter  here  !" 

And  now  this  protracted  argument  is  done  ;  not  for 
lack  of  material,  but  only  out  of  respect  to  space  and 
time.  For  be  it  ever  remembered,  all  that  has  been 
adduced,  and  surely  it  is  much,  is  but  specimen  of 
whole  volumes  which  yet  remain.  For  instance,  the 
masterly  argument  of  Mr.  Whipple,  on  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  is  a 
book  of  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  closely 
printed  in  fine  type,  and  made  up  entirely  from  the 
annual  reports  arid  other  official  literature  of  the  board 
itself.  And  his  work  might  have  been  extended  to 
two  or  three  times  its  present  size  ;  and  the  same  sub 
stantially,  could  be  said  of  the  sources  from  which  the 


478 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 


information  and  evidence  have  been  derived  on  the 
American  Bible  and  Tract  societies,  and  on  the  great 
leading,  controlling,  religious  sects  and  organizations 
that  represented  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  country 
at  the  beginning,  and  in  the  progress  of  the  great 
anti-slavery  conflict.  And  what  must  be  the  conclu 
sion  from  it  all  ?  Judge  Birney  answered  early  :  "The 
American  churches  the  bulwarks  of  American  slav 
ery."  Stephen  S.  Foster  replied  later,  in  tones  of 
thunder,  "  The  Brotherhood  of  thieves  ;  or  a  true  pict 
ure  of  the  American  church  and  clergy."  Then  came  a 
ringing  voice  from  the  west  :  "  Slavery,  and  the  slave 
holder's  Religion  ;  "  by  Samuel  Brooke,  of  Ohio,  and 
still  later  :  "  The  Church  as  it  is  :  the  Forlorn  Hope  of 
slavery,"  a  larger  pamphlet  than  the  others.  Nor  were 
these  all.  And  all  pursuing  the  same  course,  which 
was  to  permit  the  accused  to  furnish  all  the  testimony; 
not  half,  nor  a  part,  but  the  whole.  Nor  was  there 
any  cross  questioning,  nor  inferential  evidence,  from 
beginning  to  end. 

What  more  could  church  or  clergy  have  asked, 
unless  in  the  language  and  spirit  of  those  who 
demanded  of  the  great  teacher  of  Nazareth  :  "  What 
have  we  to  do  with  thee  ?  let  us  alone  /"  Or  what  can 
this  generation  ask  of  us  to-day  ?  the  very  few  of  us 
who  yet  remain  on  earth  ?  and  in  justice  to  ourselves 
and  our  cause,  what  less,  or  otherwise,  could,  or 
should  we  abolitionists,  have  done  ? 


CHAPTER     XVI. 

SOME  PERSONAL  SKETCHES  AND  REMINISCENCES- A 
LAST  SPEECH  IN  AN  ANTI-SLAVERY  ANNIVERSARY 
GATHERING. 

Returning  now  to  the  acts  of  the  anti-slavery 
apostles,  it  should  be  explained  that  this  long  digres 
sion  to  the  acts  of  another  order  of  apostles  became 
necessary  after  the  work  was  begun,  and  extends  it, 
too,  beyond  my  original  design.  Within  the  past 
year,  the  enemies  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  or 
their  children,  have  not  only  renewed  their  old  calum 
nies  against  the  faithful  and  uncompromising  friends 
and  advocates  of  that  enterprise,  but  they  have  urged 
them  with  augmented  aggravations.  Their  language 
need  not  be  here  reproduced.  They  themselves  have 
given  it  to  history  and  to  posterity,  and  they  and  the 
sure  years,  will  render  a  true  and  just  verdict. 

But  though  the  book  has  grown  already  beyond  my 
purpose  at  the  outset,  it  shall  not  close  without  at 
least  some  fraternal  and  friendly  allusions  to  a  few 
faithful  men  and  noble  women  with  whom  I  became 
acquainted  in  the  lecturing  field,  each  single  one  of 
whom  deserves  a  volume  of  finer  strains  than  mine. 

The  Burleigh  brothers,  Charles  C.,  and  Cyrus  M., 
came  to  the  field  almost  in  their  boyhood,  but  valiant, 
vigorous  as  the  young  knights  of  chivalry,  equal  al 
ways  to  any  encounter.  Had  Charles  C.  Burleigh 
pursued  the  profession  of  the  law,  as  was  his  inten 
tion,  there  was  no  eminence  he  could  not  easily  have 
reached.  On  the  platform,  in  argument,  he  had  no 


480  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES 

superior  and  few  equals.  We  always  felt  safe  when 
Burleigh  came  to  the  stand.  He  never  rose  but  when 
he  had  something  to  say.  And,  generally,  when  he 
had  spoken,  not  much  more  was  needed  on  the  ques 
tion  in  hand.  With  his  pen,  when  he  did  write,  he 
was  not  less  mighty,  as  his  "  Thoughts  on  the  Death 
Penalty,"  away  back  in  1845,  proved.  N.  P.  Rogers 
wrote  of  it  in  the  Herald  of  Freedom  :  "  I  have  gone 
over  the  '  Thoughts '  as  particularly  as  I  am  able  to  a 
book,  and  can  witness  to  its  being  all  that  the  reader 
has  right  to  expect  from  the  power  of  the  writer.  It 
is  arranged  with  great  judgment  and  order,  and  winds 
about  the  poor  old  gallows  tree  an  uninterupted 
chain  for  its  destruction.  Chain  lightning,  I  wish  it 
might  prove,  to  strike  and  splinter  it  to  its  very  roots, 
as  I  have  seen  a  white  pine,  that  had  been  just  visited 
by  one  of  these  touches  from  the  clouds.  *  *  A 
trimmer,  abler,  more  masterly  argument,  has  not  been 
put  together  in  words.  Burleigh's  antagonist  is  Dr. 
George  B.  Cheever.  Burleigh  doesn't  leave  a  rag  of 
his  parson's  gown  on  his  back.  Nobody  makes  an  ar 
gument  perfect  and  unanswerable  but  Charles  Bur 
leigh.  Give  him  a  good  cause  at  the  bar,  as  good  as 
he  has  here,  and  let  him  speak  first,  and  the  adversary 
council  would  never  reply.  The  court  wouldn't  let 
him.  His  client  wouldn't  let  him,  not  if  he  had  com 
mon  sense.  The  counsel  wouldn't  himself,  for  he 
wouldn't  find  an  inch  of  ground  left  to  start  on.  I 
never  knew  so  absolute  an  arguer  as  Burleigh.  And 
he  has  displayed  himself  completely  in  this  work." 

A  younger  brother,  Cyrus  M.  Burleigh,  was  an 
earnest,  faithful  worker  in  the  lecture  field,  but  fell  an 
early  victim  to  consumption.  Amiable,  gentle,  com- 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  481 

panionable,  simple  and  sincere,  he  was  ever  well  re 
ceived,  and  most  beloved  and  respected,  where  best 
known. 

Abby  Kelley  Foster  and  Lucy  Stone  both  achieved 
enviable  success  in  their  anti-slavery  work,  not  to 
speak  of  their  ever  abounding  labors  since  in  the 
cause  of  woman  suffrage,  to  well  fill  a  volume.  And 
each  has  a  brilliant  and  cultivated  daughter,  too, 
every  way  equal  to  its  production.  Mrs.  Foster  was 
in  the  lecturing  field  when  I  entered  it,  in  1840,  and 
had  been  for  a  number  of  years.  And  she  is  the  last 
survivor  of  those  I  found  there  who  continued  con 
stantly  in  the  conflict  till  the  battle  was  won.  She 
early  entered  to  conquer  or  die,  and  nobly  and  bravely 
she  kept  her  vow.  Lucy  Stone  came  later,  but  came 
not  less  with  the  spirit  of  hero  and  martyr,  and  came 
long  before  the  period  of  peril,  as  well  as  of  sacrifice 
and  severe  suffering  was  passed.  I  have  seen  her  in 
truly  ferocious  mobs,  that  knew  no  distinction  of  sex 
nor  color,  race  nor  religion.  I  once  saw  her  hit  on  the 
head  with  a  large  Swedenborgian  prayer-book,  hurled 
across  the  hall  with  a  velocity  and  force  worthy  other 
cannons  than  the  ''sacred  canons"  of  "holy  church." 
A  less  severe  blow,  on  a  vital  spot,  has  taken  life.  The 
mob  was  in  a  hall,  used  on  Sundays  for  Swedenborgian 
worship  ;  and  in  a  town  famous  in  that  day  for  the 
manufacture  of  cotton  gins,  for  southern  trade,  and 
so  was  an  offering  to  slave-holding  customers,  as  well 
as  a  tribute  to  religion  and  worship. 

Charles  Lenox  Remond  earned  a  place  in  anti-sla 
very  history  worthy  a  monument,  as  well  as  extended 
biography.  Salem,  the  place  of  his  birth  and  resi 
dence  during  most  of  his  life,  never  knew  him,  never 
will,  to  do  any  justice  to  his  memory  and  worth.  But 
he  achieved  a  reputation,  both  in  his  own  country  and 


482  ACTS    OF    ANTI- SLA  VERY    APOSTLES. 

Great  Britain,  that  might  well  be  coveted,  and  doubt 
less  was,  by  thousands  who  knew  him  in  Salem, 
and  all  over  Massachusetts  and  New  England  ;  but 
who  scorned  him  and  his  race,  not  more  for  their 
color  than  condition  in  slavery,  down  to  which  so 
many  millions  of  them  were  consigned  by  the  republi 
canism,  the  religion  and  the  unhallowed  prejudice  and 
hatred  of  the  nation.  Many  times  I  have  myself  gazed 
on  him  with  admiration,  when  before  the  best  Boston 
audiences,  he  acquitted  himself  with  a  power  of 
speech,  argument  and  eloquence,  which  rarely,  if 
ever,  thrilled  a  house  of  congress  or  legislative  hall. 
And  I  would  often  wonder  how  many  young  men  of 
Salem,  how  many  in  Massachusetts,  who  had  enjoyed  all 
the  advantages  of  grammar  school,  high  school  or  acad 
emy,  from  which  his  color  drove  him  away,  could  come 
there  and  occupy  and  fill  his  place — not  occupy,  merely, 
but  fill  his  place  !  How  many  !  Alas  !  how  few,  how 
very  few,  could  do  it !  We  hear  much,  talk  much  of 
"self-made  men."  But  who  ever  thinks  of  how  scant 
material  our  codes,  customs,  constitutions,  schools  and 
churches  permitted  the  colored  people,  a  half-century 
ago,  to  set  up  the  business  of  "  self-made  men " 
making ! 

And  then  I  had  not  been  long  in  the  lecturing  field 
before  fugitive  slaves  began  to  appear  on  our  plat 
form.  Among  the  earliest,  as  well  as  most  eminent, 
were  Frederick  Douglass  and  William  Wells  Brown. 
And  what  had  they  out  of  which  to  create  a  "self- 
made  "  manhood,  or  any  manhood  ?  I  was  to-day 
reading  two  advertisements,  and  feel  inclined  to  copy 
them  to  answer  that  question.  The  first  was  from  the 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  Courier,  of  February  i2th,  1835,  and 
was  headed  : 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  483 

"  Field  negroes — by  Thomas  Gadsden.  On  Tues 
day,  the  i  yth  instant,  will  be  sold  at  the  north  of  the 
Exchange,  at  ten  o'clock,  A.  M.,  a  prime  gang  of  ten 
negroes,  accustomed  to  the  culture  of  cotton  and  pro 
visions — belonging  to  the  Independent  church,  in  Christ 
ch  u  rch  pa  risk . ' ' 

The  other  was  this,  taken  from  the  Savannah,  Ga., 
Republican,  one  item  only  given  here,  as  below  : 

Also,  at  the  same  time  and  place,  the  following  ne 
gro  slaves,  to  wit  :  Charles,  Peggy,  Antoinnett,  Davy, 
September,  Maria,  Jenny,  and  Isaac — levied  on  as  the 
property  of  Henry  T.  Hall,  to  satisfy  a  mortgage  fi. 
fia.  issued  out  of  Mclntosh  superior  court,  in  favor  of 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  theological  seminary  of 
the  synod  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  vs.  said 
Henry  T.  Hall.  Conditions,  cash.  C.  O'NEAL, 

Deputy -sheriff,  M.  c. 

And  right  at  hand  was  another,  which  has  just 
fallen  under  my  eye,  and  will  help  to  answer  this 
question  about  self-made  manhood  : 

On  the  first  Monday  of  February  next,  will  be  put 
up  at  public  auction,  before  the  court  house,  the  fol 
lowing  property,  belonging  to  the  estate  of  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Furman,  viz  :  A  plantation  or  tract  of  land, 
on  and  in  the  Wateree  swamp.  A  tract  of  the  first 
quality  of  fine  land,  on  the  waters  of  Black  river.  A 
lot  of  land  in  the  town  of  Camden.  A  library  of  a 
miscellaneous  character,  chiefly  theological.  Twenty- 
seven  negroes,  some  of  them  very  prime.  Two  mules, 
one  horse,  and  an  old  wagon. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  reads  :  "All  men 
are  created  equal."  So  all  men,  at  creation,  have  equal 
elements  to  make  up  into  manhood.  But  Rev.  Dr. 
Furman  had  another  breed  of  men,  seven  and  twenty 
of  them,  and  two  mules  and  one  horse  ;  or  twenty-nine 
in  all,  and  all  "  created  equal."  And  "  one  old  wagon," 
just  as  "equal "  as  the  rest.  And  the  Independent 
church  in  Christ's  church  parish,  had  ten  more. 


484  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

then,  a  "South  Carolina  theological  seminary  "  had  in 
litigation,  eight.  Now,  it  is  not  probable  that  Fred 
erick  Douglas  was  any  one  of  these.  But  he,  and 
every  slave  who  makes  himself  a  man,  sets  out  from 
that  dead  level.  Who  ever  thinks  of  it?  "Two 
mules,  a  horse,  and  an  old  wagon,  and  twenty-seven 
negroes,  some  of  them  very  prime."  Nothing  said  of 
the  mules,  not  a  word  of  the  horse.  But  the  wagon 
is  "old,"  and  only  part  of  the  negroes  are  prime. 
Probably  some  of  them  may  be  older,  more  dilapi 
dated  than  the  wagon.  Frederick  Douglass  began 
there,  as  an  old  wagon  ;  one  of  a  gang  of  "twenty- 
seven  negroes,  two  mules,  a  horse,  and  an  old  wagon."" 
Some  of  the  negroes  not  "very  prime."  Does  any 
mortal  man,  or  woman,  comprehend  all  the  tremen 
dous  meaning  of  these  words  ?  If  there  be,  such 
must  have  read  more  and  deeper  than  Rev.  Dr.  Furman's 
"  library  of  miscellaneous  character,  chiefly  theological," 
advertised  with  the  rest  of  his  property.  Finally,  if 
the  average  Salem,  or  Massachusetts  boys,  with  all 
their  advantages  of  school,  below  the  university,  can 
not  rival  Charles  Lenox  Remond,  who,  though  never 
a  slave,  nor  son  of  slaves,  yet  had  none  of  their  ad 
vantages  in  youth  nor  manhood,  what  will  they  say  of 
Frederick  Douglass,  as  he  stands  to-day,  in  the  na 
tional  capital,  spurning  the  lingering  evolutionary 
processes  of  Darwin,  and  mounting,  as  in  an  instant, 
from  the  deep  dead  level  of  mules,  horses  and  old 
wagons,  to  the  very  proudest  manhood  yet  achieved 
in  the  nineteenth  century  !  When,  or  where  in  all  the 
historic,  or  traditionary  years  of  the  past,  shall  the 
self-made  man  be  found  to  measure  with  such  a 
phenomenon  as  this  ? 

And  there  were  many  others  in  the  field,  doing  noble 
anti-slavery  work,  when  I   entered  it,  who    were  not 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  485 

agents  of  anti-slavery  societies  for  any  length  of  time, 
and  perhaps  never  at  all.  Among  these  were  Dr. 
Hudson,  Henry  C.  Wright,  Edwin  Thompson  arid- 
James  N.  Buffum.  The  last,  Mr.  Buffum,  has  been 
named  before  among  these  pages,  and  in  a  way  greatly 
to  his  credit,  and  by  one,  too,  who  could  appreciate 
genuine  anti-slavery  service,  no  matter  by  whom  per 
formed.  And  besides  much  good  work  well  done,  Mr. 
Buffum's  house  was  for  forty  years,  not  only  a  safe  and 
well-patronized  depot  of  "the  under-ground  railway," 
but  a  hotel  of  unlimited,  as  well  as  elegant  hospitality 
extended  by  himself  and  family  with  utmost  cheerful 
ness,  not  only  to  the  anti-slavery  apostles,  but  the 
faithful,  earnest  workers  in  every  other  department  of 
real  progress  and  reform.  But  beyond  the  good  work 
done  in  his  own  country,  Mr.  Buffum  also  rendered  val 
uable  service  to  the  anti-slavery  cause  in  Great  Britain; 
particularly  in  Scotland,  with  the  churches  there 
in  1845,  it  was  found  that  the  Free  church  had  sent 
delegates  to  the  United  States,  Dr.  Candlish  and  Dr. 
Cunningham,  to  solicit  money  to  aid  their  branch 
of  the  Scottish  church.  And  by  consorting  with 
American  churches,  north  and  south,  fellowshipping 
slave-holding  ministers  and  others  as  Christians,  and 
by  silence,  or  open  avowal,  approving  of  the  slave 
system,  with  all  its  attendant  horrors,  they  obtained 
and  carried  home  three  thousand  pounds,  or  about 
fifteen  thousand  dollars.  Some  of  it  they  acknowl 
edged  was  even  obtained  from  slaves.  At  that  time, 
it  so  happened  that  Frederick  Douglass  and  Henry 
C.  Wright,  as  well  as  Mr.  Buffum,  were  in  Great  Brit 
ain  ;  and,  joined  by  George  Thompson,  then  in  his 
full  power  and  prime,  they  entered  Scotland  and  com 
menced  a  system  of  anti-slavery  conventions  and  op 
erations  which  soon  set  the  country  ablaze,  as  the 


486  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

journals  expressed  it,  with  excitement  and  agitation. 
The  battle-cry  was,  "  Send  back  that  blood-stained 
money  !  " 

And  the  slogan  of  William  Wallace  and  his  val- 
liant  Scottish  chiefs  and  knights,  was  not  more  terrible 
among  the  highlands,  seven  hundred  years  before, 
when  southern  hosts  invaded  them,  than  were  the 
voices  of  Thompson  and  his  three  American  friends, 
one  then  a  young  fugitive  slave,  (and  a  Douglass,  too, 
worthy  his  namesake  who  followed  Wallace),  demand 
ing,  day  and  night,  in  city,  town  and  country,  of  that 
heartless  Free  church  and  its  unscrupulous  priesthood, 
to  return  that  blood-besmeared  gold  and  come  out 
from  the  fellowship  and  communion  of  a  slave-breed 
ing,  slave-trading  and  slave-holding  church,  and  its 
northern  abettors  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  thus  rebuke,  instead  of  partake  in  their  cruelties 
and  crimes.  Before  me  are  full  reports  of  some  of 
those  meetings,  and  for  earnestness,  as  well  as  argu 
ment,  eloquence,  pathos,  and  intense  responsive  feeling 
in  many  crowded  audiences,  the  cause  might  well 
have  been  proud  of  them  in  either  hemisphere.  And 
from  every  account  given,  it  is  certain  that  Mr. 
Buffum  acquitted  himself  nobly  wherever  he  spoke  or 
labored,  during  his  year  abroad.  And  when  seven 
years  afterward  I  visited  Great  Britain,  no  American 
was  mentioned  with  more  respect,  or  inquired  about 
with  more  apparent  interest,  than  James  N.  Buffum. 

In  the  New  Testament  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles," 
mention  is  made  of  "  honorable  women,  not  a  few." 
These  Acts  could  register  great  numbers  of  such,  who 
went  everywhere  preaching  the  anti-slavery  word. 
Sarah  and  Angelina  Grimke  emancipated  their  slaves 
in  South  Carolina,  and  in  their  youth  abandoned  afflu 
ence  and  elegance  at  the  south  and  came  to  the  north 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY     APOSTLES.  487 

and  gave  the  remainder  of  their  long  lives  to  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  humanity.  Later,  came  Sallie 
Holley,  daughter  of  Hon.  Myron  Holley,  of  New  York, 
graduate,  with  Lucy  Stone,  of  Oberiin  College,  who 
seems  like  a  true  Sister  of  Mercy  to  have  consecrated 
her  whole  life  to  the  outcast  Ethiopian.  For  so  soon 
as  slavery  was  abolished,  she,  with  her  invaluable  and 
inseparable  companion,  Caroline  Putnam,  removed  to 
Lottsburg,  Virginia,  and  established  themselves  as 
teachers  among  the  freed  people,  where  they  still  con 
tinue  in  their  truly  millennial  work,  making  the  wilder 
ness  to  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  the  old 
deserts  of  slavery  to  shout  and  sing  for  joy.  Susan 
B.  Anthony  was  early  in  the  temperance  and  anti- 
slavery,  as  well  as  woman  suffrage  work.  Jane  Eliza 
beth  Jones  and  Josephine  S.  Griffing  performed  labor, 
made  sacrifices,  encountered  sufferings  at  the  west, 
not  known,  probably  never  will  be  known,  to  the 
world.  Lucy  N.  Colman  went  from  Massachusetts 
and  for  several  seasons  did  excellent  service  and 
encountered  the  incidents  sometimes  not  easy  to  face, 
of  pioneer  work.  Sarah  P.  Remond,  sister  of  Charles 
Lenox  Remond,  went  to  the  west,  and  with  her  brother 
did  service  above  all  praise  —  removing  prejudice 
against  thei-r  complexion  and  winning  fast  friends 
wherever  they  came.  Sarah  subsequently  went  to 
England,  studied  medicine  in  London,  went  to  Italy, 
married,  and  settled  in  large  medical  practice  in 
Florence.  But  most  wondrous  of  all  was  the  Ethi 
opian  Sybil,  Sojourner  Truth,  still  living,  a  centenarian 
and  more.  These  all  it  was  my  pleasure  and  privi 
lege  to  meet  as  best  of  friends,  as  well  as  co-workers 
in  that  mighty  moral  and  peaceful  struggle  for  human 
ity  and  liberty  which  made  the  middle  of  the  nine 
teenth  century  memorable  amid  the  ages. 


488  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  do  justice  to  the  services 
of  not  a  few  others  whom  I  met  on  the  field  of  con 
flict,  should  I  even  mention  their  names.  Oliver 
Johnson  was  among  the  first  to  place  his  young  Green 
Mountain  manhood  bravely  by  the  side  of  Garrison. 
And  his  recently  published  work  entitled  "  Garrison 
and  His  Times,"  has  been  of  important  use  to  me  in 
the  compilation  of  these  chronicles. 

The  faithful,  most  invaluable  services  of  Samuel 
May  as  general  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  for  many  years,  and  for  a  time,  before 
and  during  the  rebellion,  of  almost  the  whole  Eastern 
States  movement,  would  if  truthfully  written  be  nearly 
a  history  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise  for  its  last 
quarter  of  a  century. 

And  Andrew  T.  Foss  was  another  minister  who 
abandonded  his  pulpit  and  profession,  and  for  a  dozen 
years  was  among  the  bravest  and  best  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  apostles,  never  faltering  till  the  last  slave  was 
free. 

George  W.  Putnam,  poet  as  well  as  lecturer,  accom 
panied  George  Thompson  in  one  of  his  brilliant  lec 
turing  tours  through  the  country.  And  the  surpassing 
genius  of  the  orator  so  inspired  the  poet  and  singer 
that  his  impromptu  songs,  given  in  connection  with 
the  lectures,  added  greatly  to  the  interest,  enthusiasm 
and  success  of  the  campaign. 

Captain  Jonathan  Walker,  of  the  "Branded  Hand," 
published  a  small  volume  of  his  sufferings  and  sacri 
fices  in  a  vain  attempt  to  carry  a  cargo  of  escaping 
slaves  across  from  Florida  to  the  nearest  British  West 
India  Islands.  Narrowly  escaping  with  his  life,  he 
returned  to  his  home  on  Cape  Cod,  where,  joined  by 
Loring  Moody,  he  entered  the  lecturing  field.  The 
account  of  his  terrible  sufferings  in  a  Florida  prison, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  489 

besides  being  branded  on  the  palm  of  his  right  hand 
with  a  red  hot  iron,  for  the  dreadful  crime  of  doing 
as  he  would  be  done  by,  and  "  remembering  them 
that  were  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them,"  was  heard 
with  profound  attention,  interest  and  sympathy,  by 
many  large  audiences  all  over  New  England.  He 
subsequently  removed  to  Michigan,  where  he  died  in 
1878,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-nine  years.  A 
handsome  monument  of  Hallowell  granite,  costing 
about  seven  hundred  dollars,  and  generously  pre 
sented  by  Rev.  Photius  Fisk,  of  Boston,  marks  the 
place  of  his  burial.  The  city  of  Muskegon,  near  which 
he  lived  and  died,  honored  itself  by  presenting  and 
preparing  a  commodious  lot  in  its  principal  cemetery, 
where  his  body  lies  entombed.  And  on  the  first  of 
August,  (a  memorable  day  in  British  anti-slavery  his 
tory,)  1878,  the  monument  was  unveiled  with  appro 
priate  ceremonies,  in  the  presence  of  the  Mayor  and 
city  government,  besides  many  state  officials,  and  a 
concourse  of  fully  ten  thousand  people.  The  pro 
cession,  with  three  bands  of  music,  the  marshals 
mounted,  a  part  of  them  colored  men,  in  special  com 
pliment  to  the  deceased,  extended  nearly  from  the 
city  hall  to  the  monument. 

Mr.  Moody  continued  in  the  anti-slavery  service, 
was  at  one  period  general  agent  of  the  Massachusetts 
Society,  till  the  opening  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion. 
He  was  afterwards  secretary  of  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  and  still  later  of  a 
similar  association  in  behalf  of  poor  children.  His 
reports  proved  conclusively  his  earnestness  and  faith 
fulness  and  consequent  usefulness  in  his  work.  His 
last  labor  was  doubtless  most  important  of  all  in  his 
life  of  nearly  seventy  years.  He  originated  and  organ 
ized  The  Institute  of  Heredity,  perhaps,  viewed  in  all 


49°  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

its  aspects  and  relations,  the  most  important  enter 
prise  to  universal  human  well  being  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  And  while  its  secretary,  treasurer,  and 
almost  sole  working  element,  he  faltered  and  finally 
died  early  in  the  year  1883. 

Among  the  later,  younger  comers  into  the  anti- 
slavery  vineyard  were  E.  H.  Heywood,  graduate  of 
Brown  University,  at  one  time  general  agent  of  the 
Massachusetts  Society,  Joseph  A.  Rowland  and  Aaron 
M.  Powell.  But  in  the  early  Christian  years,  seventy 
apostles  were  at  one  time  ordained  and  sent  forth  to 
do  all  the  works  and  wonders  of  the  very  chiefest 
apostles,  whose  names  were  not  even  recorded,  with  or 
without  divine  inspiration.  And  yet  they  all  returned 
and  reported  that  even  the  very  devils  had  been  sub 
ject  to  their  command  and  control.  So  there  were 
many  unnamed  and  unknown  to-day,  who  on  the  anti- 
slavery  field  of  moral,  even  of  mortal,  combat, 
"  wrought  righteousness,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions, 
quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of 
the  sword,  waxed  valliant  in  the  fight  and  turned  to 
flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens." 

ADMISSIONS     AND    CONFESSIONS. 

In  concluding  these  acts  and  chronicles,  two  con 
siderations  present  themselves  :  one  as  admission,  the 
other  confession.  In  the  severe  arraignment  of  the 
American  church  and  ministry  as  the  bulwark,  and 
finally  as  the  forlorn  hope  of  slavery,  it  was  not 
always  easy,  if  indeed  necessary,  to  make  explicit 
exceptions.  Though  the  sect  known  as  come-outers, 
particularly  in  the  second  decade  of  the  Garrisonian 
movement,  was  numerous,  it  was  not  true  that  all 
came  out  of  the  churches  who  deserved  the  good  name 
of  abolitionists ;  many  remained  in  the  churches 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  491 

under  the  plea  or  pretense  of  reforming  them  ;  they 
did  so  after  the  churches  had  been  proved  the  accom 
plices  of  actual  and  practical  adulterers  at  the  south  ; 
and  the  churches  at  the  south,  worse  than  the  houses 
of  ill  fame  in  New  York  ;  worse  than  the  temples  of 
the  obscene  goddess,  Mylitta,  in  Cyprus  and  Babylon. 
Worse  in  at  least  two  particulars  ;  one  visit  to  the 
abominable  worship  of  Mylitta  was  all  that  the  law 
required  of  women  in  a  lifetime.  But  in  the  southern 
churches,  marriage  was  utterly  unknown  among 
slaves  in  all  their  lifetime.  Out  of  that  dreadful  con 
dition  there  was  no  escape  but  into  the  cold  embraces 
of  death  ;  and  the  victims  were  born  into  their  con 
dition  ;  they  did  not  enter  it  voluntarily,  as  do  the 
wretched  inmates,  the  dens  of  infamy  in  New  York. 
They  are  not  born  into  them  ;  no  law,  no  custom, 
no  religious  observance  forces  them  there  ;  they  enter 
when  they  will  ;  they  can  leave  when  they  choose. 
And  more  than  that,  there  are  many  Magdalen 
associations  and  female  moral  reform  societies  whose 
special  mission  it  is  to  tempt  them  from  those  dread 
abodes,  by  promise  of  every  assistance  to  return  to 
the  paths  of  purity  and  virtue,  with  no  penalty  for  the 
past,  no  rebuke,  no  reproach,  only  the  gentle  word  of 
Him  who  said  to  one  of  the  same  unhappy  class,  "go, 
and  sin  no  more."  All. this  was  urged  on  the  con 
sideration  of  church  members  who  would  not  leave 
their  adulterous  slave-holding  communion  and  fellow 
ship,  with  this  appeal ;  could  you  recommend  to  the 
inmates  of  no  worse  place  than  the  house  of  ill  repute 
in  New  York,  to  remain  in  it  to  reform  it  ?  Could  you, 
would  you,  though  you  believed  such  reformation 
possible  ? 

And    not    unfrequently,   such    church    abolitionists 
were    zealous    members  of  the   so-named   liberty,    or 


492  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

free  soil  party,  and  had  left  the  whig  and  democratic 
parties  with  stern  self  assumed  integrity,  and  would 
not  vote  in  them,  nor  for  them,  nor  their  candidates, 
for  any  office  in  the  public  gift.  Thousands  of  times 
such  have  been  seen  on  Sunday,  at  the  sacramental 
supper,  with  the  wickedest  whigs  and  democrats  who 
ever  voted  for  slave-holders,  or  caught  and  returned 
fugitive  slaves  ;  but  on  Monday,  at  the  polls,  they 
would  spurn  all  such  from  their  presence  as  unclean  ; 
would  no  more  vote  for  them,  nor  their  candidates, 
than  for  the  Prince  of  Darkness.  Then,  to  which 
ever  of  the  three  parties  they  belonged,  they  were 
members  of  a  slave-holding  union  and  government, 
and  sworn  by  themselves  or  their  elected  officers,  to 
support  the  constitution,  which  over  and  over  again 
had  been  decided  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  coun 
try,  to  require  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  as  well  as 
to  hold  the  slave  claimant  secure  against  any  insur 
rection  among  his  slaves.  Even  Senator  Sumner 
never  forgot  those  obligations.  In  his  letter  accept 
ing  the  office  of  senator  of  the  United  States,  he 
wrote  :  "  I  accept,  as  the  servant  of  the  union  ;  bound 
to  study  with  equal  patriotic  care  the  interests  of  all 
parts  of  the  country  ;  and  to  oppose  all  sectionalism, 
whether  it  appear  in  unconstitutional  efforts  by  the 
north  to  carry  so  great  a  boon  as  freedom  into  the 
slave  states,  or  in  unconstitutional  efforts  by  the  south, 
aided  by  northern  allies,  to  carry  the  sectional  evil 
into  the  free  states."  Such  were  the  "solemn  guar 
anties"  to  the  slave  power  as  declared  by  John  Quincy 
Adams,  as  accepted  by  Senator  Sumner  on  his  elec 
tion  to  the  United  States  senate,  in  1851.  In  1861, 
ten  years  later,  Mr.  Lincoln  came  to  the  presidential 
chair.  He  began,  not  only  where  Mr.  Adams  left  off, 
where  Senator  Sumner  left  off,  but  where  the  whole 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  493 

democratic  party  left  off  >  and  in  his  very  inaugural 
address  said,  in  reference  to  those  same  "  solemn 
guaranties"  and  their  binding  force  ;  "  I  understand  a 
proposed  amendment  to  the  constitution  has  passed 
Congress  to  the  effect  that  the  Federal  Government 
shall  never  interfere  with  the  domestic  institutions  of 
the  states,  including  that  of  persons  held  to  service. 
To  avoid  misconstruction  of  what  I  have  said,  I  now 
depart  from  my  purpose,  not  to  speak  of  particular 
amendments,  so  far  as  to  say,  that  holding  such  a 
provision  to  now  be  implied  constitutional  law,  I  have 
no  objection  to  its  being  made  express  and  irrevocable  /" 

So  much  for  President  Lincoln.  And  only  a  little 
more  than  one  month  before  he  passed  through  Ohio 
on  his  way  to  Washington  and  his  inauguration,  a 
slave  woman  and  her  unborn  babe  were  sent  back 
from  Cleveland  to  Virginia,  under  circumstances, 
recital  of  which  in  the  city  papers  should  have  chilled 
all  human  blood.  Referring  to  the  sickening  transac 
tion,  Mr.  Garrison  said  :  "  Several  columns  of  our 
paper  are  occupied  with  a  heart-moving  but  most 
humiliating  account  of  the  legal  rendition  of  a  fugitive 
slave  girl  in  Cleveland,  and  by  republican  hands,  as  a 
peace  offering  to  the  traitors  and  brigands  of  the 
south.  Hear  what  Judge  Spaulding,  a  high  professing 
anti-slavery  man  of  many  years  standing,  said  in  his 
concluding  speech  at  the  trial  : 

"While  we  do  this  in  the  City  of  Cleveland,  and 
permit  this  poor  piece  of  humanity  to  be  taken 
PEACEABLY  through  our  streets  and  upon  our  railways 
back  to  the  land  of  bondage  will  not  the  frantic  south 
stay  its  parricidal  hand  ?  Will  not  our  compromising 
legislators  cry,  hold  !  enough  ?  .  .  .  We  are  this 
day  offering  to  the  majesty  of  constitutional  law  a 


494  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

homage  that  takes  with  it  a  virtual  surrender  of  the 
finest  feelings  of  our  nature  ;  and  is,  I  almost  said, 
the  contravention  of  a  Christian's  duty  to  his  God  " 

And  that  was  Judge  Spaulding,  an  eminent  free- 
soil  man  and  republican  of  many  years !  And  what 
was  trie  answer  of  his  fratricidal  south,  to  now  "  stay 
her  fratricidal  hands  ?"  He  obtained  his  answer  not 
many  weeks  after,  from  the  brazen  throats  and  blazing 
lips  of  Carolina  cannon  around  Fort  Sumpter,  shaking 
the  sea  and  land ;  and  followed  by  the  bloodiest 
slaughter  of  human  beings  that  this  poor  world  has 
mourned  in  all  the  Christian  centuries  ! 

Now  this  one  word  about  "sweeping  charges,"  and 
making  no  exceptions,  or  too  few,  so  constantly  and 
universally  preferred  against  the  abolitionists.  We 
saw  the  very  best  men  in  church  and  state  with  no 
exception,  in  the  three  great  political  parties,  sol 
emnly  sworn  and  pledged  to  observe  all  the  compro 
mises  of  the  federal  constitution,  and  religiously  keep 
ing  the  obligation.  Every  man  they  sent  to  congress 
was  thus  sworn.  Through  their  agents  they  kept  the 
oath  ;  or  violating  it  they  were  guilty  of  legal  and 
moral  perjury.  This  the  abolitionists  saw,  and  hence 
their  obedience  to  the  demand  issued  from  Patmos  : 
"  Come  out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partaker 
in  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues." 

And  so  where  should  we  begin  to  make  exceptions  of 
such  as  remained  in  connection  with  the  state,  or  in 
fellowship  with  the  church  fulfilling  their  obligations 
and  requirements  ?  But  we  made  exceptions.  We 
made  too  many,  not  too  few.  Our  charity  covered 
not  only  a  multitude  of  sins,  but  of  sinners,  too. 

And  now  the  final  consideration  relates  to  ourselves, 
the  abolitionists.  And,  as  already  intimated,  it  shall 
take  the  form  of  confession. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  495 

Through  all  these  many  pages,  to  patrons  and  read 
ers,  too  many  perhaps,  no  word  has  been  spoken  of 
differences  or  disagreements  among  ourselves,  any 
more  or  less  among  leaders  than  others,  men  or 
women.  For  among  the  abolitionists,  though  there 
were  women  in  goodly  numbers  on  the  platform  of 
speech  and  in  the  field  of  work,  we  knew  no  male  nor 
female,  no  high  nor  low. 

In  the  great  apostacy  of  1840,  which  resulted  in  the 
formation  of  what  was  known  as  new  organization,  one 
principal  grievance,  especially  among  the  more  ortho 
dox  sects,  was  what  they  termed  the  "woman  question." 
With  that  came  the  cry  against  our  "  no  voting  theory," 
that  we  were  opposed  to  all  government  among  men 
and  nations,  as  though  there  were  or  could  be  no  gov 
ernment  but  our  government,  no  church  but  our 
church.  With  all  these  questions  or  quibbles,  the 
abolitionists  made  short  shrift  and  went  on  with  their 
work. 

But  being  intensely  human,  abolitionists  were  in 
tensely  individual.  And  so  they  proved  true  what  a 
great  man  once  wrote,  that  for  any  considerable  num 
ber  of  persons  to  profess  to  think  just  alike  on  any 
important  problem  was  simply  to  confess  that  they  did 
not  think  at  all. 

Abolitionists  did  think,  and  deeply  too.  And  they 
felt  as  intensely  as  they  thought.  And  so  how  could 
they  but  differ  ?  And  there  were  disagreements  that 
were  not  all  reconciled  before  death  sundered  the  par 
ties  to  meet  on  earth  no  more.  But  they  lived  and 
died  with  their  faces  ever  towards  freedom,  justice 
and  love.  A  little  more  toleration,  a  very  little  more 
remembrance  of  our  difference  of  temperament,  of 
power  of  perception,  of  inherited  tendencies,  of  possi 
ble  material,  mental  or  moral  infirmity  in  ourselves, 


49^  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

for  which  we  should  be  scarcely  responsible  in  the 
least  degree,  might  have  preserved  from  many  a  dis 
cordant  note  that  seemed  to  ring  on  down  to  the  gates 
of  the  grave.  It  was  not  anger,  it  was  not  hate. 
It  was  rather  the  result  of  intensity  of  love.  At  least 
it  was  so  among  some  of  our  very  truest,  bravest,  best, 
whose  natures  could  but  love,  could  never  hate. 

"Alas  !  they  had  been  friends  in  youth  ! 
But  whispering  tongues  can  poison  truth  : 
And  constancy  lives  in  realms  above  : 
And  life  is  thorny,  and  youth  is  vain : 
And  to  to  be  ivroth  -with  those  we  love 
Doth  work  like  madness  in  the  brain." 

To  the  last,  there  were  differences  of  opinion.  On 
the  question  when  to  cease  our  operations  as  an  anti- 
slavery  organization,  there  was  much  earnest  debate. 
Some  contended  that  our  distinctive  work  was  not  ac 
complished  till  the  slave  was  made  equal  to  the  mas 
ter  at  the  ballot  box,  and  in  the  government.  And 
that  this  was  all  the  more  important  since  it  was  only 
by  the  slaves'  valor  on  the  battle-field,  that  the  mas 
ters  had  been  defeated  and  their  rebellion  suppressed. 

As  my  last  printed  speech  was  on  that  subject,  at 
the  last  anti-slavery  anniversary  I  attended,  it  may  be 
pardonable  to  present  it  here,  as  showing  somewhat 
the  temper  and  spirit  of  the  discussion,  as  well  as  the 
nature  of  the  subject  then  in  hand.  It  is,  however, 
only  pardonable  because  from  the  beginning  it  has 
been  my  constant  care  to  be  myself  as  little  obtrusive 
as  the  nature  of  my  work  would  warrant  consistently 
with  exact  truth  and  right. 

The  anniversary  exercises  were  held  in  the  church 
of  the  Puritans,  whose  walls  had  often  shuddered 
with  the  truly  terrible  eloquence  of  Dr.  Cheever,  from 
Sunday  to  Sunday,  in  rebuke  and  denunciation  of  the 
southern  oppressor  and  his  not  less  guilty  abettor 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  497 

and  accomplice  in  the  north,  in  church  and  pulpit,  as 
well  as  in  the  state.  In  the  later  years  of  the  anti- 
slavery  conflict,  after  he  had  been  anathematized  by 
the  pulpit  and  almost  driven  from  the  pale  of  the 
church,  only  for  his  faithfulness  to  the  cause  of  free 
dom  and  .humanity,  for  his  orthodoxy,  as  well  as  pri 
vate  virtues  were  high  as  heaven  above  suspicion,  he 
seemed  to  speak  as  by  permission  and  power  of  Him 
who  "touched  Isaiah's  lips  with  hallowed  fire,"  and  to 
superadd  at  times  all  the  terrors  of  Patmos  as  well. 
No  other  voice  penetrated  the  dark,  deep  recesses 
of  the  pro-slavery  church  and  pulpit,  the  American 
Bible,  missionary  and  tract  societies,  as  did  his.  For 
to  his  faith  and  virtue,  he  added  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  all  their  works  and  ways.  My  resolution  at  that 
last  anniversary,  read  as  below  : 

Resolved,  That  the  objects  of  the  American  anti- 
slavery  society,  as  announced  in  its  constitution  and 
declaration  of  sentiment,  are,  "the  entire  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  United  States,"  and  "  the  elevation  of 
"  all  persons  of  color,  who  possess  the  qualifications 
of  others,  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  privileges, 
and  the  exercise  of  the  same  prerogatives  as  others." 
And  while  we  joyfully  welcome,  and  will  heartily  co 
operate  with  every  new  auxiliary  in  this  vast  field  of 
action  and  effort,  under  whatever  name,  we  can  never 
lay  down  our  own  distinctive  apostleship,  until  all 
those  high  purposes  are  fully  accomplished. 

Though  we  had  come  to  the  last  day  and  session  of 
our  meeting,  I  had  not  spoken  before.  We  met  at  an 
early  hour  in  the  forenoon,  and  it  was  now  nearly 
three  in  the  afternoon,  and  we  had  not  even  taken  a 
recess  ;  but  I  ventured  to  obtrude  myself  at  that 
unseasonable  hour,  and  was  heard  with  most  respect 
ful  attention  in  the  following  remarks  : 


498  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

MR.  PRESIDENT — This  is  the  first  time  I  have  pre 
sumed  on  the  attention  of  this  convention,  and  now  I 
know  full  well  it  is  too  late  to  ask  to  be  heard.  But 
it  seems  to  me  something  might  be  said  which  has  not 
yet  found  utterance,  and  I  will  not  be  long.  I  quite 
agree  with  our  excellent  friends  who  have  said  that 
this  society  has  been  four  years  virtually  dead,  though 
it  seems  to  me  a  most  humiliating  confession  to  make. 
And  I  think,  that  although  they  insist  that  this  is  no 
time  for  a  funeral,  still,  if  the  society  has  been  really 
four  years  dead,  it  is  time  it  should  be  buried  out  of 
sight.  It  has  certainly  been  inactive,  though  I  trust 
it  has  only  slept.  And  I  have  hoped  that  to-day  a 
voice  would  be  uttered  that  should  be  effective,  say 
ing,  "  Lazarus,  come  forth  !  " 

Four  years  age*  it  was  announced  on  our  pjatform 
that  slavery  was  dead — that  our  anti-slavery  efforts 
were  no  longer  needed — that  General  Scott  was  now  our 
general  agent  in  place  of  Mr.  May,  and  that  the  Amer 
ican  army  was  now  the  American  anti-slavery  society. 
Well,  that  new  anti-slavery  society,  under  General 
Scott  and  others,  prosecuted  its  conflict  with  such  suc 
cess  and  disaster  as  we  now  know.  And  the  war 
dragged  its  slow  length  along,  through  nearly  four 
dreary,  desolating  years.  And  slavery  was  still  able 
to  compete  valiantly,  if  not  successfully,  with  the 
mightiest  armies  that  ever  gathered  in  the  field  of 
bloody  fight.  For  though  we  began  with  but  seventy- 
five  thousand,  and  they  enrolled  only  for  ninety  days, 
before  that  period  expired,  we  had  summoned  sud 
denly  a  half-million  more,  for  a  three  years'  service. 
And  in  less  than  four  years,  our  army  had  reached  the 
stupendous  muster-roll  of  more  than  two  and  a  half 
millions,  and  nearly  the  half-million  had  already 
"  fought  their  last  battle,  slept  their  last  sleep  !  " 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  499 

Last  month,  we  were  wakened  early  one  Monday 
morning,  to  celebrate  what  we  presumed  to  be  the 
complete  triumph  of  our  northern  hosts  and  vanquish 
ing  of  every  southern  foe.  Richmond  had  surren 
dered,  General  Lee  was  our  prisoner,  and  his  forces 
with  him,  and  we  fancied  that  then,  indeed,  our  work 
was  done.  There  lay  the  monster  slavery  writhing  in 
death  agonies  at  our  feet,  his  head  not  bruised  only, 
but  severed  from  his  scaly  form.  And  the  whole  free 
north  burst  into  a  joy  unseen,  unknown  before  since 
we  were  a  nation.  And  that  was  a  full  week  of  jubi 
lation.  We  thought  the  great  red  dragon  was  dead, 
our  work  done,  and  already  reconstruction  was  under 
way.  The  president  had  made  that  last  speech  of  his 
on  the  question,  and  the  press  of  the  country  had 
given  in  its  adhesion  to  his  fatal  doctrine. 

I  well  remember  that  on  our  Massachusetts  Fast- 
day,  our  friend,  Mr.  Spaulding,  of  Salem,  who  ad 
dressed  us  so  earnestly  this  morning,  invited  me  to 
occupy  his  pulpit.  And  let  me  say  for  him,  that  al 
though  pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  churches  in  that 
state,  he  has  been  so  faithful  as  to  have  driven  what  is 
known  as  "  the  copper-head  element,"  pretty  much 
out  of  his  congregation,  and  dared  still  to  invite  me 
to  give  the  fast-day  discourse.  So,  occupying  the 
desk,  I  presumed  the  prerogative  of  minister  and 
selected  a  text  from  the  scriptures,  and  spoke  of  the 
goodness  and  forbearance  of  God  to  the  nation.  The 
text  was  this,  from  the  Hebrew  prophets :  "  What 
could  I  have  done  for  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not 
done  in  it  ?  Wherefore  when  I  looked  that  it  should 
bring  forth  grapes,  brought  it  forth  wild  grapes  ?  " 

In  the  course  of  remark,  I  referred  to  that  speech 
of  President  Lincoln,  and  said  it  appeared  to  me 
highly  proper  that  we  observe  a  day  of  fasting  and 


500  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

prayer,  for  we  had  to  treat  with  an  evil  spirit,  which, 
though  we  fancied  he  was  dead,  and  were  celebrating 
our  conquest  and  victory,  was  one  that  went  not  out 
after  all,  but  by  prayer  and  fasting.  In  the  afternoon 
of  that  day,  I  went  into  the  Salem  Athenaeum  and 
read  every  daily  newspaper  of  New  York  and  Boston 
there,  and  every  one,  I  think,  with  no  exception 
endorsed*  its  doctrine. 

I  had  a  lecture  in  a  neighboring  town  that  evening, 
and  went  to  it  with  a  heavy  heart  ;  for  I  felt  that  it 
would  be  my  duty  to  tell  my  audience  that  our  joy 
was  ill-timed,  and  would  be  vain  ;  that  our  rejoicing, 
I  was  sure,  would  be  turned  into  mourning.  For  in 
our  very  hour  of  triumph  and  of  victory,  as  we 
thought,  we  were  not  doing  justice  ;  and  were  ready 
to  reconstruct  the  government  on  the  basis  of  white 
suffrage  and  citizenship,  and  that  also  disloyal  ;  reject 
ing  the  bravery  and  loyalty  that  God  had  made  the 
salvation  of  the  country !  I  went  to  my  lecture,  you 
may  be  sure  with  heavy,  desponding  heart.  I  told  my 
audience  it  seemed  to  me  we  were  lost.  I  said  :  you 
have  all  called  me  "blue,  blue-black,  and  bilious,"  and 
I  know  not  what  else,  from  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
but  we  are  inevitably  lost !  For  God  has  visited  us' 
in  judgment ;  and  in  the  last  hour,  when  He  seems  to 
have  left  nothing  undone  that  he  could  do  for  His 
vineyard,  we  still  forget  justice  and  judgment  ;  none 
calling  for  justice,  nor  any  in  the  high  places  of  gov 
ernment  pleading  the  cause  of  the  poor,  the  very 
poorest  of  the  poor  !  It  was  a  sad  meeting  ;  well 
might  it  have  been  sad  ;  it  continued  till  a  late  hour 
in  the  evening ;  and  a  sadder  audience.  I  never 
addressed,  and  a  sadder  heart  in  that  joyous  week, 
probably  could  not  be  found,  than  was  mine.  But  in 
four  and  twenty  hours  from  that  time,  God  did  appear, 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  501 

and  in  most  mysterious  manner,  and  showed  that  there 
was  at  least  one  thing  more  possible  to  be  done  in  his 
vineyard,  that  had  not  been  done.  The  solemn, 
mourning  drapery  which  darkens  this  temple  to-day, 
answers  the  question  of  our  text ;  "what  more  could 
have  been  done  for  my  vineyard  than  I  have  done  in 
it?" 

And  so  we  closed  our  week  of  joy.  I  thought  of 
the  lines  of  Byron  on  Bonaparte,  when  he  sung  of 
his  greatness  and  his  fall  : 

"O  who  would  soar  the  solar  height 
To  set  in  such  a  starless  night !  " 

Yes,  Mr.  President,  that  was  a  sad  week  for  us. 
Our  enemy  was  not  slain  ;  for  while  we  exulted  over 
his  fall,  and  triumphed  in  what  we  presumed  his  ever 
lasting  discomfiture,  the  quivering  monster  gath 
ered  enough  vitality  to  swing  around  his  envenomed 
tail,  and  in  an  instant  to  sting  our  almost  idolized 
chief  magistrate  to  death,  before  our  very  eyes  ! 

I  felt  then,  that  there  was  more  work  for  me  to  do  ; 
and  I  have  felt  all  through  this  meeting,  that  there 
was  more  work  yet  to  be  done  by  this  grand  old  anti- 
slavery  society,  and  I  thought  if  we  were  indeed  to 
cease  from  our  good  old  apostleship,  and  our  associa 
tion  was  to  be  sacrificed  here,  it  was  fitting  and  well 
that  we  had  this  funeral  drapery  hanging  here  about 
us.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  such  a  deed  as  our  dis 
band  ment  and  dissolution  would  better  become 
Ford's  theatre  than  "the  church  of  the  Puritans," 
crape-darkened  as  it  is  for  the  dreadful  tragedy  which 
long  yet  must  the  nation  mourn  ! 

No,  Mr.  Chairman,  no  ;  our  work  is  not  yet  quite 
•done  ;  at  least  mine  is  not  done,  nor  will  it  be  done 
till  the  blackest  man  has  every  right  which  I,  myself 
enjoy.  I  cannot  prove  that  I  love  my  neighbor  as 


502  ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES. 

myself  till  he  stand  by  my  side.  And  I  honor  my 
friend,  Senator  Wilson,  for  standing  here  to-day,  and 
asserting  it  as  his  life  purpose,  to  labor  in  private  and 
in  public,  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  glorious 
end.  And  I  dare  tell  you  my  friends,  that  when 
slavery  is  abolished,  we  shall  all  know  it,  for  it  will  be 
as  though  "  Death  and  Hell  gave  up  the  ghost ! " 

When  we  comprehend  the  malignity,  yea,  the 
"  uncommon  wrath  "  of  the  fell  demon  we  have  to 
face  and  overcome,  and  the  terrible  power  and  ten 
acity  of  life  he  has  acquired,  we  shall  all  realize  that 
our  warfare  is  no  pastime,  no  children's  play  ;  and 
that  however  freedmen's  aid  societies,  and  Christian 
associations  may  operate  in  their  fields,  they  will  every 
one  of  them,  need  the  old  polar  star  to  guide  them  in 
their  new,  untried  and  dangerous  way. 

Charity  of  readers  may  be  trusted  to  forgive  the 
egotism  of  inserting  this  address,  in  part  for  its  sad 
historical  reminiscences,  but  more  especially  for  the 
other  reasons  already  intimated.  In  methods  and 
measures,  abolitionists,  even  of  clearest  vision,  spirit 
ual  as  well  as  mental,  could  not  always  see  eye  to  eye; 
though  ready  to  live  and  die  in  defense  of  their  com 
mon  cause.  But  let  the  temper  and  spirit  which 
breathe  in  this  utterance,  remarkable  only  that  it  was 
my  last  on  our  great  subject  ever  given  to  the  public 
through  the  press  ;  let  this  witness,  that  even  in  OUT 
differings,  we  were  still  in  heart  and  spirit  friends  in 
all  which  that  divine  word  can  be  made  to  mean. 

And  now  this  work  is  done.  Would,  that  it  could 
be  as  truthfully  said,  uwell  done."  But  nearly  three 
score  and  fourteen,  is  too  late  in  life  to  be  engaged 
in  such  a  service  ;  especially  when  it  is  remembered 
that  authorship  has  been  no  part  of  all  my  public 
labors  of  three  and  forty  years. 


ACTS    OF    ANTI-SLAVERY    APOSTLES.  503 

Truth  in  statement,  justice  and  right  towards  all 
persons  and  parties  interested  in  any  way  in  these 
chronicles,  have  been  constantly,  carefully,  kept  in 
view,  alike  towards  foe  and  friend.  In  soul,  spirit, 
purpose,  I  have  known  no  foes  ;  no  sun  has  risen  nor 
gone  down  on  any  wrath  of  mine. 

Most  of  my  early  comrades  in  the  field-service,  have 
gone,  some  of  them  long  since  gone  to  their  well 
earned  rest  and  reward.  It  is  mine  yet  to  live  and 
guard  watchfully  their  graves,  and  with  tenderest 
affection  to  cherish  their  memory,  and  to  shield  it 
from  any  unjust  reproach  to  the  full  extent  of  my 
power  and  to  my  latest  breath. 

Of  the  great  west- and  my  many  dear  ones  there 
living,  or  dead,  I  have  scarcely  spoken.  And  yet, 
nearly  twenty  of  my  autumns,  and  several  winters 
were  spent  in  most  laborious  service  in  the  western 
states  ;  and  many  there  became  not  only  faithful 
co-workers,  but  life -long  and  devoted  friends.  A  vol 
ume  much  larger  than  this  and  greatly  better  every 
way  would  not  suffice  to  do  any  justice  to  their 
exalted  worth.  But  I  live  in  unshaken  faith  and 
expectation  of  a  glorious  re-union  awaiting  us  all. 

Nor  with  my  present  vision,  could  I  desire  sublimer 
felicity  in  such  re-union,  than  to  become  more  and 
more  divinely  endowed  with  celestial  wisdom,  knowl 
edge  and  power  ;  and  then,  in  the  same  spirit  of  love 
and  good  will  to  men,  to  all  men,  appealing  ever  only 
to  the  highest,  divinest  elements  in  the  human  nature, 
to  continue  our  work  and  service  till  the  whole  race 
shall  be  restored  and  redeemed,  and  sin  and  death, 
the  last  great  and  only  real  enemies,  shall  together 
give  up  the  ghost. 


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